Shadow of zero
by AllHailTheEmpire
Summary: Lelouch wakes up in Gotham with no idea how he got there, Batman finds him and takes him to the Justice League. To Lelouch's surprise the League agrees to help him on his quest to free the world from his father. With the help of his new found allies, how much will his path change? Time changes, but not without consequence. Apokalips is coming.
1. Chapter 1

Shadow of Zero

 **Unknown:**

Lelouch gasped for air, he groaned and held his head, it hurt, a lot.

He tried to get up, but fell clumsily.

"This sucks" he muttered under his breath. He coughed, to his surprise blood came out his mouth. Lelouch who never had that problem, freaked out, he started to breathe slowly trying to calm his nerves down enough to think rationally. With a lot of effort he got to his feet, he stumbled forward holding the wall as he walked. "Where the hell am I?" he said in confusion. He remembered that he had just managed to escape Shinjuku ghetto, he didn't want to be there when they discovered the body of the dead Prince Clovis, he had just reached Ashford academy, when suddenly his surroundings turned black. At first he blamed the mysterious power he had received that day, as an after effect or something like that. But when he woke up in a different place, he wasn't so sure. "Did someone drug me" Lelouch's eyes widened in fear "Did someone found out about Clovis?" no it couldn't be, he made sure that no one was around. Cameras? Maybe he honestly hadn't bother to check, but Clovis detested the idea on being spied on, so he really doubted it. So what options remained. Not much really, maybe some eleve… "Japanese" he corrected himself. Maybe some Japanese had managed to kidnap him, trying to get money out his family. He snorted if only they knew that his only family was Nunnally. A blind and crippled fourteen year old, with no money whatsoever, but he knew that Nunnally would do anything to get him back, she would ask Milly for help, but he refused to trouble her and her family anymore. He would escape on his own, his new found power would make sure not to cause any more bloodshed. His stomach flipped as he remembered the people he had to kill, the royal guard, Clovis.

"They were scum, the world is better off without them" he concluded, but killing someone was new to him and still made him sick. "I hope it gets better with time" Lelouch told himself as he looked at his surroundings. He was in an alley, a dark one at that, he walked outside and his eyes widened in shock. This wasn't Britannia, or the ghetto.

He was in city, it didn't look like anything he had seen before. Its skyscrapers where cold and didn't have any light, making the already gloom area look even darker. It looked extremely gothic and depressing. Lelouch looked around, no one was following him, he looked back at the alley, no one was there the only sign that someone had been there was the blood that Lelouch had coughed.

Was this someone's idea of a twisted joke "Lets drop this guy in the middle of nowhere and freak him out, it's going to be hilarious" well Lelouch decided that he wasn't going to lose control. If he freaked out he was done for, someone would pick out his fear and use it against him. Instead Lelouch walked with an air of indifference as he always did, hoping it would make him invisible to the untrained eye. He still had his school uniform and even if he looked tired he could still pass as someone of class. He kept walking for ten minutes and with every minute he became more worried, the people didn't act like britannians or numbers. They all went on their business with an air of nervousness. They looked everywhere in search of a threat, fearing something he was not aware of. What caused all this mass panic? Where they about to be invaded? Was he in the EU? This questions kept Lelouch's mind spinning "How am I supposed to make a plan if I don't know what's going on!?" he mentally raged.

Lelouch stopped when he saw a local TV displaying the news; he hoped that would clear some of his doubts and distract him of his precarious situation. He approached the place and saw some people blocking his view, he gently pushed some people to the side in order to see and to his surprise (and delight) the people didn't complain or got offended. He watched as a pretty reporter gave the latest info "It has been confirmed that the Mr. Freeze has attacked the Gotham City Bank, he has taken more than fifty people hostage, the Gotham policy department can't do anything without putting the hostages at risk" a woman next to him gasped. "My son works there!" she yelled in fear. The image changed to a bald man hugging his wife. "Before he was Mr. Freeze he was just Victor, but with his wife at the brink of dead he tried to do anything to save her, but with time running short he put her in a cryogenic tank in order to save her life, but that angered the wrong people, crime boss Rupert Thorne was displeased that his equipment was used for such trivial things and tried to kill Freeze, dumping him into another cryogenic tank and all the chemicals that Freeze had fell with him turning him into the cold hearted super villain know as Mr. Freeze" Lelouch raised an eyebrow at the term "super villain", he walked away and analyzed the information he had just heard, he was in Gotham, a place he had never heard about and apparently a man had taken the biggest bank hostage. Lelouch smiled, the perfect time to get some money and sort out his problems. He would let Mr. what's his face get all the attention while he acquired some money to return home. He mentally complimented himself for that one "Not bad, taking in consideration that I just woke up in a city that I don't know nothing about" Lelouch tugged a man in the sleeve "Where is the Gotham city Bank?" the man raised an eyebrow at him "Why do you want to know?" Lelouch frowned and activated his Geass. "Tell me where the Gotham City Bank is".

The man blinked and nodded robotically "Of course, is down the street, the biggest building you can't miss it" Lelouch smiled. "Thank you" he left as the man regained his consciousness. Lelouch walked as fast as he could and sure enough he arrived at the bank in less than two minutes.

"How convenient" Lelouch said to himself. The police had the entire perimeter surrounded, but he notice that the back door was protected by just two guards. Lelouch sneaked as best as he could and walked up to the guards "Hey you're not supposed to be…"-"You will let me pass and forget that you ever saw me" Lelouch interrupted him with his Geass. The guards nodded and unlocked the door, Lelouch hurried inside smiling at his small victory. Unknown to him someone had saw and heard what he had just done and he wasn't pleased.

Lelouch walked silently through the hallways; he smiled as he noticed the lack of Britannian flags or EU flags. Heck not even Chinese flags, this city appeared to be free from all the three super powers. Maybe if everything played right he would bring Nunnally here so she could live a peaceful life while he waged war on Britannia. "Please let us go, we have done nothing wrong!" a man yelled making Lelouch snap out of his thoughts. He stopped on his tracks. He had reached the main entrance, where the super villain was "I know you have done nothing wrong, but I don't care you are the only reason the police hasn't stormed inside and taken me out" Lelouch's eyes widened as he saw the man who had talked. Mr. Freeze was not a bald man with a frail looking appearance. He was covered in a bulky looking suit that made him look imposing. Another man stood up "You think you can get away with this freak, Batman will show up and make sure you pay" the man said boldly.

Mr. Freeze raised his gun, Lelouch flinched knowing what was coming, but instead of the sound of a bullet the gun emitted a strange beam that let the man frozen in the place he stood. Solid as ice, Lelouch gasped in surprise "That's impossible" he muttered to himself.

Mr. Freeze turned to the rest of the terrified hostages "Anyone else is feeling remarkably stupid or brave" silence "Good, then don't bother me while I gather something" Lelouch watched as the man walked up to a terminal and started typing. He was going to transfer the money to an unknown location, clever. But Lelouch needed physical money now so he couldn't do what the Popsicle was doing, he got to a terminal and started to type the amount that he supposed he needed, five thousand should do. But then the machine a loud "ching" noise, Lelouch's blood ran cold; he heard the super villain turned around from his work. He stared at the school boy with a mixture of surprise and annoyance "What do you think you're doing?" he asked as he pointed his freeze gun at him. Lelouch activated his Geass and looked at him in the eyes "Nothing you will continue doing what you were doing" Mr. Freeze stopped on his tracks and lowered his gun, then he started to laugh, his robotic voice making the prisoners shudder and this time it was not because of the cold of the frozen bank.

"Very funny kid" he pointed his gun at him once more "But I don't need a clown here, if I wanted to hear jokes from a clown I would have stayed at Arkham" Lelouch couldn't believe it, he wasn't affected by his power!? He looked at him and noticed that his eyes were covered by some strange red goggles, before Lelouch could come with a smart excuse he felt something hit him and in less than a second he was at the floor tied up. He couldn't move he was trapped again; he looked around frantically trying to get eye contact with someone. But they were paying attention to someone else, Lelouch watched as man dressed completely in black descended from the shadows. He saw Mr. Freeze curse loudly and shoot at him, but the demon managed to not only escape the shot but counter attack it, throwing something a sharp object at him, as soon as the object made contact with Freeze it exploded making the armored man take some steps back. "Victor stop this, now" the man told the villain in a very deep voice. "I think not Batman, I have already transferred the funds to an associate of mine, soon he would move everything to a safe place, where I will pick up the money after I'm done with you" the Batman frowned and send a glare that made Lelouch shiver "Don't push me Victor" Freeze didn't respond and started to shoot randomly at his foe. Batman barely managed to escape them but one shot got him in the arm, freezing him to the wall. "I learn from my mistake Batman, do you?" Victor taunted "One would think that with all the time we have fought you wouldn't fall for that one" Batman growled and broke free from the ice, punching Freeze in the face, breaking his protective glass. Lelouch watched in fascination and surprise, this masked man took down a formidable foe. Freeze looked at Batman in anger and charged his next attack he punched the ground and froze everything that was on the floor. Freeze stood up and searched for his enemy, surprisingly Batman had managed to escape the blast, Freeze felt another explosion on his back making his suit emit an alert sound "ALERT: SYSTEM COMPROMISED, TOTAL FAILURE INMINENT" the suit chimed in. "NO!" Freeze yelled as his suit lost power. He felt someone push him to the ground and with no warning he was knocked out.

Batman let out a breath he didn't know he was holding in, it went better than last time where Freeze had managed to cover him in ice and thrown him into a river. If it wasn't for Batgirl he would have been dead. But now he had another thing to worry about, he turned around and pointed to one of the hostages "You alert the police tell them that the place is secure, Freeze is down you are safe now" the man nodded and left to find the cops, while the other hostages started to thank Batman "If it wasn't for you, he would have turned us into…" the young secretary couldn't finish her sentence as a sob broke her speech. Just thinking about it made her sick. Batman put a hand on her shoulder "Don't worry, he won't hurt anyone for a long time"

Lelouch had his head lowered, exhausted from the events. First he had been kidnapped by terrorists and taken to a war zone, he had managed to escape there and hand the victory to the rebels then he had to kill his half brother but not before he got information about the dead of his mother and apparently two of his closest siblings knew about it and then he had to run all the way to Ashford academy, not to mention all this nonsense about ending in a completely different city. He felt someone cut the ropes from his arms and legs only to be force into some handcuffs and his head was covered by a bag. Oh goody this day just couldn't get better now could it?

He felt himself being raised by the shoulder and pushed somewhere soon enough he found himself being pushed inside a car. The sound of the engines told him all he needed to know about this car. It was a tank, plain and simple; the shock from the blast of the engines had been enormous but the car hadn't exploded, instead it had accelerated like a race car. Lelouch watched with mild interest as the lights passed by quickly, they were going really fast. But he could hear the sound of the wheels whining at every turn, this was one heavy tank. He heard the sound of waterfall and then all the light was cut off. Lelouch knew what was coming, he mentally prepared himself for torture he would not let this Batman break him.

Bruce was impressed, this sixteen year old boy was brave as you could get. He had not only remained quiet the entire ride but he had also managed to exit the Batmobile with an air of dignity and respect. He would have assumed he was the son of very rich man, but Bruce knew very well that he was not. He was dressed differently his eyes where purple and he had mind controlled two guards. Bruce placed him on a chair and turned all the lights out. He removed the bag from the boys head and waited. He saw him frown but he remained calm "Your act is not going to scare me I have suffered worst trust me" he said in a calm bored tone. Batman smirked, he was different all right, he had sent a message to Batgirl telling her to call the Martian man hunter, or John Jones, to get to the bat cave now. He would arrive in ten minutes or something Bruce estimated. He just had to keep his guest busy "Who are you?" Lelouch smiled, so he wanted to know huh? Well then let's scare him "My name is Lelouch VI Britannia" he said and waited for the gasp or the denial of the Batman. But nothing came "Fancy name, where are you from?"

Did he not know the weight of his name or he just didn't care? Lelouch decided to humor the man "I'm from Japan, I have come here for tourism" Batman smiled from the shadows.

"You're lying, your accent is from Europe, you were born there and no one comes to Gotham for tourism" Lelouch chuckled; it appears he has met a man as smart as his older brother.

"Well then from where are you really?"-"Britannia" Lelouch waited and once again he was disturbed by his answer "So you're from England"-"No, don't tell me you don't know Britannia?"

Batman frowned, he was wondering if he would have to prepare a cell for a crazy English guy in Arkham "No I have no idea what Britannia is, I suppose you are talking about England in the British Isles"

Lelouch paled, he was getting really worried, but he refused to show weakness "but that's impossible, don't you know Britannia, the emperor and his atrocities?" he threw the insult to his father to see if he was a Britannian or if he was a number. He had to know something that was familiar to him damn it!

Bruce was almost fifty percent sure he was crazy, but from his movements and facial features he knew he wasn't lying, he either completely believed in his fantasy world or he was telling the truth.

"Do you know where you are?"-"Gotham"-"who am I?"-"You are Batman"-"Who is Superman?" Lelouch blinked in surprise "Who?"

Bruce smirked, gotcha. There was no way that he didn't know Superman, everyone knew him he was the embodiment of hope and peace. He was the one and only man of steel he had been in all the countries of the world, this kid was eider delusional or…

Batman gritted his teeth and turned the lights on, Lelouch blinked and when he had managed to regain his sight Batman had his back turned to him "I know you have some sort of power, I saw you control those officers, but your failed attempt at controlling Freeze means that you have to make eye contact with the subject, I won't let you do that to me, I'm tired of people playing with my head" Batman told him not looking from his work. Lelouch smiled like a child at Christmas, he knew he was smart but he didn't think he would have deduced everything in a small amount of time, he was clearly a man of knowledge if only he could convince him to fight at his side against Britannia or at the very least convince him to play chess with him. It had been a while since he had a worthy opponent. He felt a strange light pass over him and to his surprise it tickled, the light tickled him, that as something so weird to him, lights couldn't do that.

"What did you use on me?"-"Something" Batman replied, Lelouch frowned, and looked at the machine "I suppose it was a scanner, are you trying to find out about my power?" Batman nodded and started to read the analysis. He had an abnormality in one of his eyes that emitted a peculiar type of energy, a magic type of energy. Bruce wanted to groan, why it couldn't be a weird fake eye, one that he could just deactivate. No it had to be magic; he had to call Zatanna now. Bruce smiled at the thought of his old friend but regained focus. From what he had gathered he was really human. No muscle mass whatsoever, no robotic implants just a plain school boy that happened to have magical powers. He kept reading until his eyes stopped at a certain page, his breath caught in his throat. He read it again and again, trying to deny what he had just read, Bruce for the first time in a long time felt fear.

"What is it?" Lelouch asked indifferently "Is my power more dangerous than you thought or has the emperor ordered you to release me?" Lelouch hoped it was the first one. He didn't want to see his father in this state; he wanted to see him at his feet as his empire crumbled because of him.

Batman turned his head a little "Tell me schoolboy, what's the last thing you remember before appearing in Gotham?" Lelouch's eyes widened "How did you…" he never got to finish the sentence as a powerful hand grabbed him by the throat. He couldn't look at his eyes because Batman hand was pushing his head back, making sure that his eyes were on the roof "Why did Darkseid send you?" he growled at him. Lelouch gasped for air "Who?" Batman released his grip a little so that he could breathe "Your lord"-"The only one I follow is myself, I don't know who this Darkseid is" Lelouch told him calmly; he was surprised when Batman lowered him "Did you escape from Apokalips, are you a survivor?" Lelouch shook his head. He hated to admit it but he couldn't do much in a situation like this. So he waited and to his surprise Batman untied him and made him sit in front of the computer. He showed a picture of planet earth. "You know what this is?" Lelouch snorted "Of course is our planet" Batman frowned and showed another picture, it was of America "Area 1" Lelouch replied with a bored tone. Why was he showing pictures of things he already knew?

Batman on the other hand wanted to punch a wall. This kid was not from around here, another dimension to be precise and he had got here because of a boom tube, which once again made no sense. Because the only one with access to a boom tube was Darkseid and his minions and this kid didn't know Darkseid.

"Batman I have arrived" a deep and calming voice came from behind him. The Martian had arrived. Lelouch jumped from his seat and stared at him horror "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

The Martian shook his head; people here on earth really had something against Martians. Batgirl appeared moments later. Dressed in her usual bat gear, she frowned when she looked at the boy. Was this really the reason she had been woken up in the middle of the night a boy that looked her age? She did as ordered and avoided his eyes, but he really wasn't looking at her, he was too busy staring at the Martian, he was cute she would give him that.

Lelouch watched in a mixture of fright and disbelief as the green thing approached him "Batman what seems to be the problem?"

Batman removed his cowl revealing the handsome visage of Bruce Wayne "Well for starters he is from another dimension"


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Well hello there, I must admit when I started this fan fiction I kind of finished the first chapter in like an hour and didn't fix any errors cause I thought no one was going to read it, so please excuse the first chapter if it's a little… bad (I'll fix it later) but seeing as some people actually did like the story, I have decided to continue the storyline and then later fix the first chapter. Oh and don't be afraid in calling out my mistakes, it helps me a lot because English is not my first language.**

 **Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 2**

The Martian man Hunter had always thought of himself as someone who had seen it all, after all he outlived most of his friends and had seen so much more than all the others.

He had watched as his own planet perished, all of his family as well. And with the Justice League he had fought the strangest of foes, Greek gods, clones of his fellow comrades, maniacs in costume, monster created by the greed of mankind, genius business men and even himself from another dimension… twice.

So when Batman had called in a level four code, he had assumed something was giving him trouble and he needed the second opinion of an extraterrestrial being. After all a level four was not the highest level of alarm they had. Level five was if a monster like Doomsday attacked and level six was if Superman went berserk because it would take all their efforts combined to subdue the man of steel. But he hadn't been expecting a teenage boy from another dimension, the Martian shook his head, this was going to be a long night he could just tell.

"Is that so Batman? Are you completely sure?" the Martian asked with a little bit of wariness.

Dealing with alternative realities is always a really touchy subject to the league especially since the incident they had not so long ago... Superman was never the same.

"Yes I'm sure, I have run every test I could think of and double checked it, he warped to this world through a boom tube" Batman replied as he walked to his computer displaying the analysis on the gigantic screen.

The Martian approached the screen and started to read, true enough the result were conclusive. The energy signature matched that of the boom tube and there was a time disturbance earlier that day, reported by Booster Gold, but seeing that it was Booster Gold everyone ignored him.

The dark knight turned to his green friend "Everything checks out, I just need you to corroborate it".

The Martian brought a hand to his chin as he contemplated everything Batman told him, reading peoples mind was something he was never really fond of, but if the situation required it he would do it.

But he preferred to have the consent of the people before going inside their heads.

Lelouch on the other hand felt like his reality was being torn to pieces.

Alternative realities and Aliens? This was like one of those anime Suzaku watched all the time when they were young. He closed his eyes at the painful memory.

"Suzaku…I'm sorry" Lelouch said in his head as he remembered how his friend was gunned down in front of him by the Royal Guard trying to protect him.

He shook his head; no he couldn't allow himself to go down memory lane, right now he needed to plan this situation really well, this people knew about different dimensions so they might be useful… for now. So he would play along with their game, he hoped that they were kind people and send him back to his dimension without asking many questions.

He had to plan a rebellion after all and he didn't want to worry Nunnally more than he already does.

He had to smile at the absurdity of it all, here he was in a cave as he waited for a Martian and a man dressed as a bat to decide what to do with him, while he was guarded by a young woman dressed like her partner, in another dimension.

He honestly hoped he had just passed out from exhaustion and that all this was some sick dream and that he would wake up any minute now to hear Milly scold him. But he knew better, the moment he received his power he knew that his life will be anything but ordinary.

Lelouch prepared himself for anything when the Martian approached him.

"My name is John Jones, pleased to meet you" he said kindly. Lelouch bit his tongue not knowing what to say, heh, that was new.

"I know you must be in a state of shock right now but, I need to ask your permission for something" the Martian said.

 **Lelouch's POV:**

"I need to ask your permission for something" I furrowed my brows in confusion. What could he possibly want from me, didn't they have all the technology and the brains to send me to my dimension. But I nodded nonetheless, not wanting to anger the man… I mean alien, that right now had my fate in his hands.

"What I'm going to say might sound insane, so please keep an open mind" the alien told me before he stared at me straight in the eyes, a small part of me wanted to take control of the situation, use my power on him and order him to do as I say.

But the rational part of me knew better. I couldn't act by instinct I need to have all the cards in my hand and then make my move.

"Sure go ahead" I replied, keeping my tone neutral. That seemed to be all the alien needed.

"I am a Martian, my species was nearly destroyed a long time ago, few survived but they have scattered all over the galaxy, I on the other hand didn't go that far, I decided to stay here on earth. But I'm far different that a human" he said slowly, giving me time to grasp all the information.

"We Martians have a different connection to the universe than other species; we can change our appearances at will and read minds"

Change your appearance, read minds? Was this common in this universe and here I thought that my power was impossible!

"Excuse if I find this hard to believe I mean for all I know you're just trying to scare me" I replied.

The Martian nodded and backed away "Of course that's expected, this sounds really fanatical and…." He trailed off trying to find the correct word.

"Weird?" the female bat asked sarcastically, the Martian chuckled and nodded.

"Yes Batgirl, it may sound weird but I can prove you, that this is no joke" he said and right before my eyes he started to shift, his once green skin turned black and his bald head grew hair, his red pupils disappeared and were replaced with purple ones.

Standing right in front of me was… me.

"I can mold my vocal cords too" my doppelganger told me as I stared at him in awe, his voice an exact replica of mine, he had my uniform and even the pencil in my pocket. He transformed back into himself.

"But... but… how?!" I asked in disbelief.

Batman decided to re enter the conversation "We'll explain it later right now we need to focus" he gave the Martian side glare, hoping he would get the message.

He apparently did because he nodded "Lelouch, I need to ask your permission to look inside your head"

I sucked in a sharp breath of air, many unpleasant memories tried to resurface.

"Why would you do that?" I asked slowly hiding very well my nervousness.

"To make sure you are who you say you are, we will only look at memories that you want to show us, we are not going to force you into something you don't want, it would be unethical" the Martian replied waiting for my answer.

I frowned and pondered for a moment, the downside was that they would look at my memories and most of them were not nice. The upside is that there was no way that they could accuse me of anything if they looked. But could I relieve all that hell again?

"Of course you can" a small voice in my head told me "You relive them every hour of your life, are they not the fuel of your rage and determination?" I made a face, true enough.

"I agree" I replied. The Martian nodded and closed his eyes, I stared at the floor waiting for something to happen and soon enough I felt sleepy I closed my eyes and in no time I was asleep.

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

 _I awoke with a gasp; I was face down on a field of grass._

 _I felt disorientated, my head was turning and my vision was blurry. I focused as hard as I could to stop the sensation and as soon as it had started it ended._

 _I looked around as my vision slowly returned to normal._

 _Flowers, so many flowers, I was in a beautiful garden._

 _Roses, daisies and so many others surrounded me. I felt at peace it reminded me so much of…_

 _Oh…_

 _I bit my tongue to stop the scream that wanted to come out._

 _The Aries Villa, the place that I spend my childhood, the place that Nunnally and Euphemia would play with me while Cornelia watched from afar with a smile on her face._

 _The place where my mother was gunned down, the place that Nunnally lost the use of her legs and eyes, the place that became a prison to me until I was shipped off to Japan like and object by that bastard._

" _This place seems to make you feel pain" I jumped and looked for the voice._

" _You won't see me, I can't take form in your memories" replied the voice, that belonged to the Martian._

" _Tell me, what is this place?" he asked. Seeing that he was here to make sure that I wasn't lying I answered with the truth._

" _This was my home, the Aries Villa" I replied as I looked around the garden._

" _This was my mother's garden" I felt a stab of pain as the memory rolled before my eyes. My mother was walking carrying Nunnally as I watched from afar._

 _The vision changed, because I didn't want to see that, my mother and my sister so happy, it hurt a lot._

 _I was in the Pendragon now, the capital of the empire_

" _This is the Pendragon, the capital of the empire, from here the emperor sends orders to all his subjects, telling them witch country to oppress and what people to torture" I said bitterly._

 _I looked to the side and right on cue some Britannian guards started to beat the crap out of an Honorary Britannian. Just so that they could prove that he was worth nothing._

" _Why are the people not interfering?" the Martian asked, enraged at such violence._

" _They don't care, he is no Britannian, he is from a conquered area, he is worth nothing to them and even if they wanted to help they would be punished by law" I replied coldly._

" _That's terrible" he said sadly._

 _I nodded and looked at the scene with sadness, as a kid I had thought nothing of it._

 _They were just some police officers doing their jobs, but now that he was older he knew they were just doing it, for pleasure._

 _Just because they wanted to feel superior to him, just to probe it to him._

 _The scene changed once more, I had enough of that it was time that I showed him the man responsible._

 _I opened my eyes and prepared myself, this one was going to hurt a lot._

" _Where are we?" my companion asked me in what sounded like worry. Did he feel my anger? Maybe, I didn't care._

 _I had every right to be angry._

" _This is the throne room, where the king gives his speeches and orders" I replied as emotionless as I could, because I was so close to snapping._

" _How did you get in here" he asked as I approached the throne._

" _Because the king is my father" I spat the word father in disgust. That monster was no father of mine. He let me to rot, sentenced Nunnally to a life of despair and suffering all because he deemed her weak._

" _You are dead to me" the king told me in anger_

" _You were dead to me since the day you were born" I gritted my teeth in anger._

" _I'm sending you and Nunnally to Japan, you will make great bargaining tools" he said mockingly at my weakness. He had a smirk on his face as he sat back down._

" _Judas Priest" the Martian muttered in shock._

 _I shook my head and changed memory once more._

 _I was in the fields of Japan once more, running with Suzaku._

" _This was Japan, to my surprise the people from here received us with kindness, sure we were still prisoners but… they grew on me as I grew on them" I smiled fondly at memory, Suzaku was carrying Nunnally around while I picked a flower to put on her head._

" _I wanted that to last forever, that feeling of happiness" I frowned as the memory changed "But I knew that it couldn't last forever, Britannia attacked soon enough and they targeted the house where I was in an attempt to kill me and my sister" I remembered what was happening now._

 _I had watched with horror as the house started to burn down, I had barely managed to escape with Nunnally._

" _After that we wondered around the country trying desperately to survive, we were lucky"_

 _I was carrying Nunnally around the devastated city; she had her head on my shoulder._

" _Big brother was that horrible smell" she said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust._

 _I looked to my right and saw corpses of the Japanese that the Britannian army massacred._

" _Nothing Nunnally is just a nearby swamp" I heard the voice of my younger self reply sadly as he turned away from that haunting sight._

" _We barely got of that alive, I reached some friends and they sheltered us" I said as the memories changed once more._

" _It all had been peaceful for us until something happened" I said as the memory change to Shinjuku ghetto._

" _Some Japanese rebels stole a container, trying to use it in their cause to take back what it's so rightfully theirs" I was in the truck now._

" _I got there by accident, I didn't know what was in that container" the scene changed once more as the container opened revealing the woman that had granted me my power._

" _Of course the rebels believed that they had stolen poisonous gas, but what they didn't know is that they stole something far more powerful"_

 _The Captain of the Royal Guard shot at me, but the woman took the bullet for me as she fell with loud "tood" blood coming from her head._

 _I kneeled next to her and to my past self surprise she grabbed my hand._

" _Say? How a Britannian that despises his country should live?" my past self said as he ordered them to die._

" _For the first time since I was banished, I had a purpose, I had a chance to finally free the world from Britannia and find the truth about my mother"_

 _The memory changed and now I was inside the cockpit of a Knightmare "Q1" I said into the radio._

 _I smiled as the battle that I won against Clovis replayed itself._

" _Then I had to face my step sibling, I needed to know if he knew anything about my mother" I was now pointing a gun at Clovis as he spilled all his secrets to me_

" _Then I ended him for ordering the one sided massacre" I shut my eyes not wanting to see the memory of my brothers head blowing off._

" _Then as I returned home from all that my head fell really heavy" I fell to my knees and stared at the floor in confusion as my vision started to blur._

" _And next thing I knew I was here" I closed my eyes as I felt myself awake, pulled out from my dream world._

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

 **Normal POV:**

Lelouch gasped as he woke from his vision, sweat ran down his forehead, he buried his head in his hands.

Groaning in pain as a headache formed.

"Don't worry it would pass, it's just an after effect of sorts" the Martian man Hunter informed him as he approached Batman.

"Easy for you to say, you're not the one who's brain feels like is about to come out from his nose" Lelouch told him as he breathed slowly trying to ease the in his head.

Batman looked at the Martian impatience evident in his eyes.

"Well? Was he saying the truth?" Batman asked.

The Martian nodded sadly "Yes and I fear is even worse than we thought"

Batman narrowed his eyes at him "What do you mean?"

"His world is bleeding Batman; its citizens are killed from no reason, because the executioner thinks he is superior to them, a super empire is crushing all those who oppose it" John told him sadly.

"What?" Batman asked taken aback.

"And that's not all; this kid has received a power that I thought was prohibited a long time ago by the new gods, the power to make anyone do anything you ask" The Martian said in a hushed tone.

"Who gave it to him?" Batman replied concerned, if the new gods had prohibited and they existed in all plains of existence then it most have been really bad.

"A woman with green hair that I don't know" The Martian rubbed his forehead "Batman we need to bring this issue to the League, this kind of power cannot go unchecked in the future"

Batman nodded "I'll call an emergency meeting, what about the kid?" he asked as he looked back at the teen that was shaking his head in pain.

"Bring him along, something tells me he is at the heart of all this"

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

APOKALIPS: many light years away from earth.

A being ran through the hallways of the imposing castle of Apokalips, his claws making a soft "tap" noise every time they hit the floor.

His appearance was really humanoid, that is if you could ignore the claws in hands and feet, and the horns in head and his red eyes.

His forehead was covered in sweat as he approached the room he wanted to go.

Well to be honest he didn't want to go there, but he had no choice but to go there, if he didn't give this report his master would be most displeased and when his master was displeased that meant one thing: dead.

But then again most things in Apokalips lead to dead by the hands of its Master.

He was going to go through the door until he was stopped by the guards, the raised their guns at him

"State your business" the one in the left said.

"I come to speak with our lord" the creature told them panting for breath

"Our lord has no time to see another insignificant creature beg for forgiveness or for money, SCRAM!" the one in the right yelled at him.

"You don't understand I have a report from are R1" the creature told angrily.

"R1 you say" the creature on the left pondered for a moment "Hmph, fine you're allowed inside, but be quick" they moved to the sides allowing the creature to enter the massive room.

He walked slowly, he knew how infamous this room was; most of the people that entered it didn't come out alive.

He gulped as he saw the colossal shadow of his master; he didn't have to move to intimidate someone.

He walked and kneeled before him, his master had his back turned on him, he was looking outside the window.

The giant room overlooked the fiery planes as the people called it, those flames had been burning since time itself and they didn't disappear if anything they grew stronger by the day.

Maybe that's why his master liked to look at them so much, because in a way it maybe they were like him.

But who was he to think for his master, he cleared his throat announcing his presence, he kneeled and bowed his head.

"My Master I've come with a report" silence greeted him and he almost felt the rays of death upon him. When his master didn't acknowledge him he continued.

"We have been scanning the multiverse for what you asked my liege and we found it… on area R1" as his master remained unresponsive, the poor creature felt like if a giant butcher knife was hanging on top of his head.

"I know that I have bothered with telling you all this my master because the artifact was exactly in the place of the multiverse that you predicted, but you see… there was a disturbance of sorts" he shakily retrieved a paper from his pocket he had written down the data there, not trusting his memory. Not looking up because he feared that would offend his master he read it.

"Someone activated a boom tube, not the one we normally use but one that can travel within dimensions it started in area R1 and it ended in… Earth Prime my liege" his master turned to him his stare burning him.

"W-e have al-so deduced that some-one from t-hat area acquired a-a little power from the ar-tifact, he must have tried to escape and seek help from them" he was shuddering in fear; he waited to his master to reply.

" **What is your name?"** his master asked

"K-Ka (cough) Kalus my liege" he replied shakily.

" **Who else knows of this information?"** his master asked as he crossed his arms.

"No one but myself sir, as soon as I found out I ran as fast as I could to deliver the information" he replied.

" **You have done well Kalus, this information is most useful"**

Pride swelled up in Kalus chest as he tried to hide a grin "I live to serve my lord"

" **But there's a problem"** Kalus felt his heart jump to his throat.

"What's the problem my liege?" Kalus asked in fear, did he miss something, did his master expected more?

" **This information is for myself only, no one else should now about this"** understanding dawned on Kalus as he got to his feet.

"My liege I swear my lips are sealed I would never tell…"- **"I don't care really, you're a liability and now I must take care of you"**

Kalus tried to run but he tripped and fell rolling down the long stairs, he yelled in pain as he reached the end of the staircase, he looked down at the source of his pain and to his horror, his right leg was bended in an unnatural way, blood was oozing out from his knee where his bone had fractured an now was outside the skin. He crawled trying to get as much leaving a trail of blood behind him.

When he knew that he couldn't escape, he tried to resort to mercy once more "LORD DARSEID PLEA…"

He was interrupted as a large red beam of light hit him square on the chest. He screamed in agony as skin melted followed by his muscles and organs.

Soon what once was Kalus hit the floor with a loud "crack".

The only thing remaining was the screaming skeleton of the dead creature, its agony forever seen in the poor creature's skull.

" **Clean up that mess"** Darkseid yelled at his guards, he knew that they had been watching in mild horror and mild fascination.

The guards entered and got to work while Darkseid returned to his place at the window.

With each step he took, the entire ground shook.

He looked once more at the fiery planes and smiled **"So someone stole some of that machines power and tried to escape with it to your world Kal-El"** he chuckled darkly.

" **That doesn't matter, if it's in that universe or in R1, I will find the power that is so rightfully mine… and crush all opposition that tries to stop me from using it"** he looked back at the flames.

The flames to him were like him, they always wanted to burn more; they always needed to burn more in order to survive.

He had conquered civilizations, destroyed planets, captured universes and yet he still hungered for more.

He needed to add more power to his already insane one, because he had been stopped. Like water he had been extinguished, Kal-El the kriptonian had stopped him.

He had stopped his conquest of earth, a small little ball of nothing. But it was defended by them… Darkseid growled in hatred **"Soon I'll teach you the meaning of pain Superman"**

 **A/N:**

 **And…. cut!** **So what did you think? By the way I just wanted to ask you guys if you wanted pairings in this story (you know like romance and stuff) and if you do please leave a review with it.**

 **No seriously go nuts, Lelouch X Batgirl, Lelouch X Supergirl Batman x Cornelia go insane, I won't care!**

 **Well anyways thank you all for reading and I'll see you in the next A/N!**


	3. Chapter 3

Shadow of Zero

Chapter 3

 **Watchtower: Earth's atmosphere**

The meeting room where the founding members of the league reunited was a place few had ever seen; even honorary members of the Justice League can't take the honor of having been allowed into it.

Here the founding members of the Justice League made decisions that could change the fate of the world.

Here they had made decisions that few would ever hear about and even fewer would know what pushed them into making said decision.

The room was nothing remarkable, a normal meeting room with a large window, with the exception that the window overlooked earth from space.

The watchtower was their base, a giant space station from where they couldn't be attacked and they could deploy emergency help to any place on the earth.

Superman walked into the meeting room, he was dressed in his usual red and blue outfit, the "S" on his chest visible even in the darkness of the room

Superman's eyes turned white as he scanned the room whit his x-ray vision, making sure there were no hidden cameras or any other sort of bug.

When he was satisfied he flipped the lights on as he entered, Superman had been the first to receive Batman's message and if you can travel at supersonic speed, arriving late was never a problem.

Clark walked to the massive window that overlooked earth, his adoptive planet: Earth.

He smiled as he watched how the sun started to shine in North America

"Mom and Dad will wake up soon" he muttered to himself as he remembered how his parents always got up with the sun.

Something Superman had always complained back when he was at the farm.

When he had moved to Metropolis things had changed, he didn't have to wake up at 5AM to feed the chickens any longer, something he had surprisingly found himself missing. Now he woke up a little bit late and he got to his job at 8AM sharp.

He smiled as he remembered how Lois complained that he always woke up before her. And today was no exception.

He had left a note on the side of his bed explaining his girlfriend the situation. He was going to get an earful after this.

He shook his head, clearing his mind from distractions. He had to focus on the matter at hand.

Superman had known this was something serious the moment Bruce had called the meeting.

Founding members only (obviously he wouldn't be in this room if Batman decided to make a public announcement) he had said; it was also top secret because Bruce refused to tell him what was going on, no matter how sure Superman was that no one could hack into their communications.

But that was Batman for you, a paranoid who always had a plan B and contingency plans for everything…and everyone.

But Clark trusted Bruce with his life and even if they had their disagreement on the past he knew that he wouldn't call out of nowhere just to complain about the budget (something he did a lot)

After all, Batman was not one to call meetings he downright hated them and he wasn't afraid to let Superman know.

"I don't have the time nor the patience to stay in a room with all of you discussing things you can handle, call me only if it's necessary" he had grumpily said one time as he exited a particularly boring meeting.

He heard someone approaching and was surprised to see Wonder Woman entering the room.

She had a frown on her face, her displeasure of having to be up so early showing. She gave a half wave to Clark as she sat on a chair feeling miserable.

"Good Morning Diana, how are you doing this fine day?" he told her cheerily knowing it would get under her skin.

The Amazonian glared at him "Can it Clark, it's too early and I haven't even had my coffee yet, I swear if it wasn't Bruce…" she grumbled the last part but Superman quite honestly knew what she was saying.

Calling a meeting so early was weird, but Bruce could go days without sleeping, so for the dark knight this was a normal stroll on the park.

Clark snorted at the idea, yeah like the Batman would ever let himself be dragged to a park.

The door opened once more revealing other two members, Hal Jordan and Wally West AKA Green Lantern guardian of the universe and The Flash the fastest man alive.

Flash smiled and zoomed to the chair next to Diana, he smiled flirtatiously "Hey babe, how have you been doing?"

Diana glared at him "If you don't move away from me I will rip your head off and shove it up…" Flash disappeared and was now on the chair farthest away from Diana as possible.

"Jesus babe, no need to get graphic" he fake pouted.

Hal Jordan chuckled and took a seat next to Wally; he nodded at Superman who was still standing.

"What does the bat-freak want?" Green Lantern asked.

"Beats me, but he sounded worried" Wally said with a shrug.

"Yeah right, that would be the day" Hal muttered under his breath.

"I don't think that man has felt an emotion in ages, I pity his butler he has to deal with his emotional constipation twenty four seven" Hal said referring to his gloomy comrade, Wally chuckled at the joke.

Diana on the other hand frowned "Bruce might be cold and distant but he honestly cares, he just doesn't know how to show it because of his upbringing" she told them.

Wally smirked and raised an eyebrow at Diana

"Are you just saying that because you have a major crush on him or do you have proof?"

Diana blushed heavily but managed to recover quickly "Both actually"

"Man what do girls see in that guy? I swear more than half of the female population on the league wants his baterang" Hal told them as he started to play with his power ring.

"Hal…" Superman threatened, warning his friend.

"Sorry supes, I didn't mean to get graphic" he told the man of steel jokingly.

"Do you really have evidence?" the flash said as he continued the conversation, looking at Wonder Woman with curiosity.

"Yes, why is it so important to you?" Wonder Woman told him, annoyed at his behavior; was it really that hard to believe that Bruce was human?

"Well, there is this poll going around…" Flash told them as he rubbed his neck.

"Yes?" Diana prompted him to continue.

"If Batman is a robot or not and I… maybe have voted on the first one" the Flash received unimpressed looks from his comrades.

"No ok but hear me out" he said as he tried to explain his theory "he never sleeps, always manages to solve any mystery with little to no effort, he can take more damage than your average human and I have never seen him show any romantic interest in any human being" he smiled as he finished his theory.

"What about Catwoman?" the green Lantern asked.

Diana smiled as the smirk on her friend's face faded.

"He could be faking it…" Flash tried but was interrupted by Superman.

"Batman is human, trust me I have seen him at his worst, he is as human as anyone else on the planet" he told them as he remembered Bruce lying down on medical bed after Bane had snapped his back in two.

"And as for my evidence" Diana told Wally with a smirk "I was informed by Zatanna that Bruce is indeed human, they have been friends since childhood"

"Wait hold on a sec" Hal told them as he shook his head in confusion "Are you telling me, bright, happy, sexy magician Zatanna Zatara one of the most powerful magicians on earth is friends with dark and brooding Batman, who despises magic?"

Wonder Woman nodded "Best friends even"

Green Lantern shook his head annoyed while Flash smiled "It looks like you have competition Diana"

"Batman is not interested on Zatanna" Diana told him as she rolled her eyes

"But can you say the same thing for her?" Green Lantern asked with a grin.

Diana frowned "Well…"

"Glad my love life is regular topic on these meetings" Batman announced out of the blue making everyone jump in fright.

"JESUS CHRIST YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A HEAR ATTACK?!" Green Lantern yelled at the cape crusader.

To the untrained eye Batman still remained serious, but his mouth curved slightly upwards.

"Sorry to call this meeting so early but this topic is of most importance" he told them as he connected a memory into the computer, not turning to look at his friends that were still recovering from the jump scare that he gave them.

"Bruce… how long have you been standing there" Superman asked as he approached his best friend.

"Long enough to know that Zatanna and I are in a relationship and that I'm a robot" he told him with a humorless tone.

Wonder Woman blushed while Flash paled. He swallowed a large gulp and made his way next to the Batman "Hey Bats…." He told the dark knight.

When he didn't respond Wally felt like he was going to end up at Arkham "IreallydidntmeanwahtisaiditonlywasastupidpollandImsorry" he told him at super speed making Hal roll his eyes.

"Don't worry Flash it doesn't matter I have know of your little poll for a long time" he told him as he watched Wally stumble trying to make a coherent word.

Batman spoke into his earpiece "Where are you?" he asked in a hushed tone while Flash still tried to apologize to him.

"We will be there in a second I have just finished putting the eye patch on him as you requested, he is rather calm" The Martian Man Hunter told him.

"Good get here quick" he told him as he hanged up.

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

Lelouch frowned as he touched the eye patch on his eye, bothersome but not impossible to live with. He had granted their request because he understood why they were afraid.

A man who could control you to do his every whim with only having to do direct eye contact with you? A scary thing indeed

But a part of him was smiling with sadistic glee, if this powerful heroes feared him even thought they have fazed people like him. Then the emperor was in a lot of trouble.

Because as far as he knew he was the only one with a power like this.

He looked outside the window and marbled at the beauty that the earth had from this view.

He wondered how his world would look from this point.

"It would look the same" he told himself.

Even thought Britannia would like to believe otherwise, they didn't look any different from space.

The continents would always look the same, they haven't changed since Napoleon's time and they wouldn't change for other thousands of years, it's the people that inhabit them that make the change.

Lelouch watched as night fell on Japan.

Nunnally will be alone this night, he realized.

With no idea why her big brother had disappeared except a vague message he had given to Shirley, with only their maid Sayoko as her moral support.

They had been separated for the first time since they were exiled to Japan.

No matter how tired he had felt or how sad he was, Lelouch had always gone to her room to wish her good night, telling her that he would always be right beside her.

Not once had he forgotten.

But now with this crazy situation going on he couldn't.

He knew that his little sister would get worried and if he didn't show up she would inform Milly, who would have to tell the authorities sooner or later, news of his disappearance would spread like wildfire.

And his face showed up in a police poster, he was done for.

Some royal will notice the similarity with late Prince Lelouch Vi Britannia who was last sighted in Area 11 and would inform the member of the royal family who replaced Clovis.

They would search for him and his last know home.

Ashford Academy.

And then… they will find Nunnally, his poor sister would be thrown back into the pit of snakes that called themselves the royal family.

Alone in a world that she couldn't possibly defend herself against.

A world of lies and backstabbing.

In the best scenario she would be married off to some stuck up noble, a tool for the emperor to gain more power.

The worst scenario… she would be tortured about his whereabouts and then executed because the emperor deemed her weak.

"No! I will not let that happen" he mentally screamed.

He would get back and when he did he would bring Britannia and his father down.

For his sister he would create a new world.

A kinder world

"Nunnally please don't worry I'll be back soon" Lelouch said out loud as he put a hand on the window.

He felt a hand on his shoulder "They're ready for you" the Martian informed him.

Lelouch nodded and followed the Martian, his eyes wandering ever so often looking for interesting machinery.

He was in awe of the technology this world possessed.

Teleporters, giant space stations, robots far more advanced than Knightmares, you name it.

He was mentally taking notes of the ones he knew he could try to reproduce.

They kept walking for a while until the path started to be narrowed down and there was only one room left on the far end of the corridor.

The white walls and small door gave a menacing aura to the hallway.

"Intimidating; no fool in their right mind would interrupt them here" Lelouch thought, as they approached the door

They stopped at the door and the Martian walked up to an eye scanner, his red pupils were quickly recognized and they were allowed inside.

As they entered the room Lelouch had to raise an unimpressed eyebrow at the heroes of this world.

Why were they all wearing spandex?

He looked to his left and saw a woman who was wearing nothing but a swimsuit. Granted it complimented her… large assets but it was inappropriate, not wanting to disrespect the lady he looked away blushing.

"Thank you all for joining, please take a seat" Batman said as the justice League sat down and watched the dark knight expectantly.

"I know you all have questions, they will be answered as we go, only ask if necessary" Batman told them sternly.

Lelouch was reminded of Cornelia, his big half-sister.

She was part of the military and always talked with that stern tone, unless she was dealing with Nunnally, himself or… Euphemia.

Lelouch missed Euphemia, she was the person he loved the most (besides Nunnally of course) he sometimes wondered how much had she changed since he last saw her.

Had she been corrupted by the Royal Family? Had her heart blackened like theirs?

It was a possibility, but for all he knew he had been the one who had changed for the worst.

Euphemia abhorred violence and here he was planning a rebellion to destroy his homeland.

Lelouch frowned "I'll focus on that later, first the meeting and getting back home then I can focus on my moral choices" he mentally scolded himself.

He looked up and saw Batman explain how he had come across him and Mr. Freeze, how he had seen him use his power on two guards on how he took him to "the Bat cave".

Lelouch snorted at the name.

"I proceeded to do a full body scan when he started to talk gibberish, trying to identify what was wrong with him" he paused "Turns out I found out something more interesting" Batman said as he displayed on the large screen the readings he had obtained.

"He had remaining energy from a Boom Tube" the whole room erupted into chaos.

"WHAT?!"-"what is he doing here?"-"Batman are you nuts?!" where some of the shouts Lelouch managed to understand.

Batman slammed a fist on the table "Enough! Let me finish" the other members agreed and Batman let out a sigh.

"Thank you, I interrogated him, he honestly doesn't know how he got here…" he was interrupted by the one wearing a green costume. Lelouch mentally called him grasshopper.

"How can we possibly trust him, he probably comes from apocalypse for God's sake!" Green Lantern argued.

"I had my doubts as well so I called the John to make a full memory scan" Batman said, as the room focus shifted to the alien.

"It's true, his mind cannot lie, his story is checks out" The Martian said calmly "But I would prefer if the man himself explained his backstory, if he wants of course" the Martian said as he looked at Lelouch expectantly.

Lelouch sighed and nodded, he turned to look at the other members of the League before he started.

"My name is Lelouch Vi Britannia, prince of Britannia or well I used to be, some time ago my mother was murdered in our own house for reasons unknown by me, my father the emperor of the Britannian Empire grew enraged at me when I asked an audience with him to discuss the reason why my mother's murder wasn't been investigated, he told me it was old news"

Lelouch frowned hatefully but continued his story "when I in my anger gave up my claim to the throne, the throne that my siblings would kill and backstab each other for, he banished me and my sister to the former Japan" he paused for dramatic effect.

"Former Japan?" the Flash asked confused.

Lelouch nodded at the red wearing super hero "Yes, Britannia has this policy that all those who are weaker than them should be crushed, so they conquer other nations that they deem… weak" Lelouch nearly spat the word.

"When they invaded Japan me and my sister managed to escape the bloody battle and when Japan lost the war it was transformed into area eleven and all the former inhabitants have been living under Britannia's boot"

"By the gods" Wonder Woman said as she shook her head, an empire that thrived on war that sounded like something Ares would plan.

"Has no one tried to push them back" Superman asked concerned for the wellbeing of the people on Japan.

"Small resistance groups have appeared here and there but they are either crushed or ignored because to them they're just a small nuisance" Lelouch responded.

Superman shook his head in understanding.

"Well that was until I arrived" he said as the whole room looked at him in shock.

"I was dragged into a battle between a small resistance group and the Royal guard, you see the resistance group had stolen what they believed at the moment was poisonous gas, the army in panic ordered a massacre against the Japanese just to cover their mistake, I accidently opened up the container that supposedly contained the toxic gas but it turned out to be something…different" he said as he remembered the green haired woman.

"It turn out it was a woman, I don't know her name but just as I was about to be executed she saved me and granted me a power, the power to make everyone obey me, all I have to do is look at someone with this eye" he said as he tapped his eye patch, Lelouch smiled in delight as some of the members shivered.

"I managed to turn the tables and defeat the Royal Guard and kill their leader, Clovis" his stomach flipped inside him, but he managed to suppress the emotion.

"After that I escaped from the war zone and made my way back home, but then I passed out and woke up in the city that your friend was in" he said as he gestured towards Batman.

"I know I'm in no position to ask but… could you please send me back to my world, my sister needs me and the resistance as well" he said hopefully.

Batman nodded at him "I have the readings I can send you back"

Lelouch smiled and the other members nodded in agreement, but Superman shook his head.

"Wait something doesn't ad up, how did he travel through a boom tube" he asked as he stood up "The only being that we know that possess this technology is Darkseid" he said as he looked at his friends as the gears in their head started to turn.

"I'm sorry but who is this Darkseid?" Lelouch asked all the other members of the league except Batman and Superman looked around awkwardly.

Batman typed some words in the computer and Lelouch was greeted to the picture of a monster. He was a giant, tall as a two store building; his skin was sickly grey color, like a corpse.

In the picture he was destroying a skyscraper with a beam of red light that originated from his eyes.

Superman clenched his fist as he started to explain to Lelouch what this monster was.

"Darkseid is a being that has existed as long as the universe itself, he travels around the universe with the only purpose of conquering planets and enslaving them, he doesn't care if it's from this universe or another one he only cares about the resources that the planets have to offer" Superman said in disgust.

"he needs it if he plans to search the entire universe for the artifact that he has been looking for all this time, what it is we don't know but he has been conquering planets across the *multiverse searching for it and as far as we know he hasn't lost any battle except one" Superman said grimly.

Lelouch mouth hanged open as he stared at the being, his mind was already making lines and theories and they all led to one thing.

"My world… might be next!?" he said in horror as he stood from the chair.

"It would explain how you teleported here, the effects of his imminent arrival are felt years before he appears" Green Lantern said sadly as he remembered all the reports of the planets they had lost.

Darkseid took his time to arrive but when he did it was devastating.

"Years? That means I have time to prepare! He has lost once then he will lose again!" Lelouch said as he looked at the members of the table with pleading eyes

"Please send me back I will need time to rally all the people I can to defend my planet" Superman shook his head

"You can stop someone like him with numbers, or firepower"

"THEN HOW!?" Lelouch yelled in desperation, he refused to give up, he would not let Nunnally and the rest of the people he actually cared about die just because he gave up.

"He… was defeated by me, but I nearly lost" Superman said as he recalled the horrible days of the invasion, the entire Justice League had been defeated and only he remained.

He for the first time in his life let himself loose.

Superman always held back, to him the entire world was like it was made out of cardboard, if he hit something he was sure it was going to snap in two.

But he was consumed by grief, anger and despair.

And when he was blinded by rage he took on the monster.

Superman had won, but not without a great cost.

The battle between the two titans of power had destroyed an entire city, now there was only one huge crater to remember that tragic day.

"Lelouch Vi Britannia, we'll send you back to your planet" Batman said out of the blue, making everyone turn to look back at him.

"But we're going with you" Lelouch smiled in relief, he was going home but stopped when he thought about the terms of the contract.

"Why would you risk yourself for a world that isn't yours?" Lelouch asked him

"Because we will not let any other world to be destroyed by Darkseid if we can prevent and when Superman defeated him he made the promise that he would come back once he had obtained the artifact he was looking for" Batman said.

Lelouch scratched his chin in thought then smiled "Ah! This artifact will grant him even more power and you want him to prevent him from getting it because he will come back to your world and attempt to conquer it once more"

Batman nodded

"So you will search my planet for this artifact before Darkseid arrives… makes sense to me, it's of benefit to both of our interests and I don't see any harm of you coming along" Lelouch said to Batman.

"You're impressive for your age, normal kids would be more worried about their school work or if their crush likes them back" Green Lantern complimented him as he stood up from his chair, stretching his muscles.

"Most kids aren't like me" Lelouch replied with a calm tone.

"Where are you going lantern we haven't finished" Superman said as he watched his friend make his way to the door.

"I have to pack, duh" he said with a smirk.

"Negative, you will stay here with Flash and Martian Man Hunter; it would look to suspicious if all the founding members disappeared" Batman told him with a frown.

"Oh come on bats…" Flash groaned in annoyance.

"Wonder Woman, Batman and I will go, we leave at mid day the sooner we leave the sooner we get back, meeting adjourned" Superman said abruptly cutting him off and with that he walked out of the room.

Green Lantern and Flash quickly followed and lastly Wonder Woman left.

She waved at the only three people on the room before she closed the door.

"Lovely bunch" Lelouch remarked as he stood up from the chair.

"You get used to it, I have to prepare everything for the multidimensional jump John will keep you company" Batman said as he retrieved the memory card he had attached to the computer and left the room as well.

Lelouch nodded and turned to his new green friend.

"Do you play chess?"

 _ **LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL**_

Superman shook his head as he hung up the phone, Lois was not happy with him.

"Trouble in paradise?" said Batman from behind him.

Used to his friend's insistence on sneaking up on people he didn't even turn to scold him.

"Yes, Lois is mad at me for not telling her sooner" Superman said with a sad sigh.

"What about you, who is going to cover Gotham while you're gone?" Superman asked

"Batgirl, Black-bat, Red Robin and Spoiler will take care of it and if they need help they'll call Nightwing" Batman told him as he started to prepare the portal.

"You're letting your kids take care of Gotham?!" Superman asked surprised.

"Yes, I trust them and I have confidence in the skills they have" Batman told him as if was the most obvious thing on the world.

"Never pictured you to be a proud dad" Superman smiled as Batman glared at him.

"That's not what I…"-"Bat-dad is coming for the criminals of Gotham followed by his kids, fear him for he is the night and if you talk bad about his kids fear him more for he is Bat-dad"

Batman looked at him unimpressed "Are you done?"

Superman nodded happily

"Good, then call the others were leaving soon"

Superman was about to turn and leave but stopped.

"Bruce what if it is there?" Superman whispered only loud enough for Batman to hear.

"What?" Batman asked confused

"You know the artifact Darkseid is looking for?" Superman clarified still in a hushed tone.

"We destroy it, we can't let Darkseid have it; for the sake of the multiverse we must find first" Batman replied in a cold tone.

"I have a feeling this might be the planet" Superman said with confidence.

"I also believe that; the power The Prince has it's not from his world" Batman finished preparing the portal he nodded at Superman as a confirmation and without another word Superman left to search for the others.

It took them a half hour to have everything set and done, Superman Batman and Wonder Woman now stood in their civilian personas.

Lelouch smiled at the choice of their clothing, not too much and not too little. They would blend perfectly they looked like middle class Britannian citizens. Not royalty but still in control of stuff.

Lelouch shook hands with The Martian Man Hunter "It was a pleasure to play chess with you; I have to admit I almost thought you would win"

The Martian smiled at the praise "The pleasure was all mine, it was a pleasure to meet you.

"Likewise if we ever cross paths one more time I would like to play again with you" Lelouch replied.

He then walked up to the remaining three members of the League.

"Are you ready?" Wonder Woman asked kindly as she smiled at the teen.

Lelouch nodded and returned the smile "Yes, I'm eager to return home" he replied.

"Prince Lelouch we're about to activate the portal, please close your eyes until you know it's safe" Batman told him

"How do I know when is safe, and don't call me prince" Lelouch said.

"You'll know… trust me" was the only answer he got from the dark knight.

"Preparing Countdown" said the artificial voice of the machine was about to step in.

It looked like a giant circular dome; the inside was sickly hospital white and there was nothing remarkable about it except some weird pillars that surrounded the entire dome.

"3"

The pillars started to shake and spin

"2"

The entire room started to be bombarded with lights of different colors, Lelouch looked at his hand was surprised to see it was started to look translucid. He was hit suddenly by the realization of how similar this looked to the contract he had made with that woman back at the ghetto.

"1"

Lelouch closed his eyes and soon enough he felt himself falling into an abyss, his head started to scream in agony as it was bombarded with images and things he didn't understand.

"EUPHEMIA!" he heard someone yelling to his left as the bloody form of his beloved half-sister hit the floor.

He saw himself being shot and captured taken hostage and returned to the emperor.

He now watched himself being crowned emperor "All hail Lelouch Vi Britannia, 99th emperor of the holy Britannian Empire.

"Lelouch, you monster how could you!?" he heard Nunnally cry in fear and horror.

"No… this can't be true" Lelouch muttered in confusion, his future?

"You can't change who you are" a voice he didn't recognize said, it sounded dark and menacing.

"Nor the events that you have seen, you will always be destined to be Lelouch the Demon Emperor, the monster that will kill thousands"

Lelouch gasped in shock, his whole body felt numb.

"You can try, but it won't matter in the end, you are just a harbinger of dead and suffering, hurting all those who are close to you" Lelouch felt himself fall hard against the ground.

He groaned in pain as his eyes readjusted at the darkness.

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder "Are you all right?" Wonder Woman asked.

He managed to nod and with a lot of effort he pushed himself to a kneeling position.

His eyes widened as he recognized Ashford academy, he wanted to run to his sister's room and hug her until she couldn't breathe.

But right now he had a mission; he turned to his comrades in crime.

"I can let you stay with me for one night, but no more than that it would look to suspicious, I will buy you a house in the outskirts of town, a nice quiet place where you can do your investigation without being disturbed" he said as he motioned them to follow him.

"Please be quiet I would prefer if we don't alert any guards" he said softly as they walked around the empty hallways of his school slash home.

Batman walked without making a sound, his years of practice made this effortless to him. Superman just kind of floated millimeters above the ground, while Wonder Woman had to take off her high heels.

"Not good for infiltration missions" she muttered to her companions as she walked barefooted.

They kept walking until they arrived at Lelouch's dorm room. He quickly patted his pockets hoping to find his keys.

"Please don't tell me I lost them, now of all days" he said in annoyance.

He finally found them on his breast pocket, with a sigh of relief he unlocked the door. He walked into the room, his eyes softening at the sight of his sanctuary.

Lelouch's mind finally relaxed a little, he was back home.

His peace was quickly interrupted by the sound of something flying towards his direction, he heard the sound of a metal clashing against a wall and he quickly recognized who it was.

"Wait Sayoko don't do anything, it's me Lelouch!" he yelled at the ninja that was hidden in the shadows.

The lights of the room were quickly turned back on and the surprised face of his friend and ally appeared.

"Master Lelouch?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes Sayoko it's me" he replied calmly.

His maid tackled him into a hug.

"We thought you were dead" she said as she buried her face into his chest.

Lelouch smiled and hugged her back, allowing himself this small moment.

"No, dead won't take me away that easy" he said as he put a hand on her shoulder.

She nodded and looked at his companions.

"What are you?" she asked in a threatening tone to Superman.

He smiled and stretched his hand.

"Well my name is Clark Kent…"he started but was interrupted by Sayoko who was shaking her head in disbelief.

"I threw a knife at your heart, I know I didn't fail, explain to me why are you alive" she gave them a glare.

"Wait Sayoko, they are here because they saved me" Lelouch intervened before things got to out of hand

"They saved you?" the ninja asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, they saved me from the ghetto" he said lying trough his teeth, hoping Sayoko would buy it.

"You were at the ghetto?!" she asked surprised at her master's reckless behavior.

"Not by choice, I was kidnapped and taken there, I was there when the army attacked" Lelouch said hoping that was enough for Sayoko.

"That's how you lost your eye?" She said as she raised her hand towards his eye patch.

Crap he had forgotten to take it off "It was signed off, its fine but I can't see with it, I will see a doctor later" he said as he touched it.

Sayoko nodded and turned around "I will be preparing the guest room for your guests, I suppose they will be staying the night, I highly advice you to go and see your sister, she has been worried sick" she said as she left.

Lelouch let out a sigh and turned towards the League "Get settled in and try to sleep, tomorrow we will take care of business and you can searching for…it"

Wonder Woman nodded and patted Superman on the chest "Please let's go I could use a nap after waken so early today" superman nodded and let her lead the way.

Batman had stayed behind

"You guys are acting calm, with the whole travelling to another dimension thing" Lelouch remarked as Bruce sat down and grabbed the nearest newspaper.

"We have done it in the past, thank you for not telling by the way, it's best if we keep this between us" he said as he read through the newspaper quickly, taking in every bit of information that might be useful.

"You said you where the one that killed the other Prince right" Bruce said as he stopped at a certain page.

"Yes, why do you ask?" Lelouch responded confused.

Bruce handed him the newspaper.

"It looks like they blamed someone else they don't know that you did it" Bruce said.

But Lelouch didn't respond because he was in shock.

Staring right back at him was the face of his oldest friend and one he had thought dead: Suzaku

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

Lex Luthor was staring out of the window, a big smile plastered on his face, he had just gotten off the phone with the witch boy.

"Did you manage to intercept anything?" Luthor had asked

"Yes, I have already sent the things that you asked for, I'm not one to brag but it was my best performance yet" the voice on the other side of the line replied in its cold and ominous tone.

"At first I didn't understand why you wanted me to show him that, but it scared him to the bone, his spirit has been shaken"

Luthor smiled at that "Do you have a direct reading on him?"

"No he slipped through my grasp as they traveled dimensions" the voice said in annoyance.

"But you can tell me where he is right?" Luthor asked impatiently.

"Yes, I'll send you the information later, but what are you planning to do with this information Luthor?" the voice asked curiously.

Luthor smirked "Oh, I just plan to send someone to say hello for me that's all"

"You plan to break him out of Arkham?"

"No, thank god he has already broken out, I just have to find him and he will be on his way" Luthor replied.

"Be careful with him, no one knows how his mind works, not even me"

"No need to worry, I have everything covered; send me the coordinates as soon as you can" he said as he terminated the call.

Now Luthor watched as the city bellow him moved.

An imperfect machine to Luthor's eyes, he wanted more.

Humanity was becoming rotten and impossible to cure, they needed to be clenched and only the strongest ones should inherit earth.

People with vision, people with power, people like him.

And thanks to his new "friend" he could do that.

"Just wait Superman" Luthor said with a smirk "I will tear your precious Metropolis to shreds"

 **A/N:**

 **Not so sure with this chapter, but it had to be done in order to continue the plot forward. The events of Code Geass will take place next chapter, the rescue and all that good stuff, I'm really excited.**

 **The events will be mostly the same, but Lelouch will questions his actions more thanks to the voice that he heard (cookie to anyone that knows who he is) why didn't he tell the Justice League about the voice you ask? Because Lelouch doesn't trust so easily, he might be kind towards others but he always doubts their motives.**

 **Well that's all for now, please let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions please don't be shy and share them.**

 **See you next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

Shadow of Zero

 **Gotham City:**

There were many unspoken rules in Gotham City, most if not all of them where known and respected by the people of Gotham.

If Poison Ivy was on the loose you stayed away from any plant.

You should know some basic riddles just in case the Riddler captured you

Stay away from the sewers or ponds, that's where the human eating murderer that called himself Killer Croc liked to roam.

And most importantly… stay away from clowns at all costs.

Most people in Gotham stayed in their homes at night, the doors shut tight.

Not even the most rebellious of teens had the courage to go out at night when one of the inmates of the infamous Arkham Asylum had escaped.

But that was not the case for a lone figure that walked the deserted streets of Batman's city.

A low level crook spotted the lone figure and smiled.

'Easy money' he thought.

He took out his gun "Stop right there, give me all your money" he said with a sadistic smile.

The figure stopped but didn't turn around "are you deaf, I said…"

The crook never got to finish the sentence as a bullet hit him in the head and he fell dead to the floor.

The person kept walking towards its destination, the abandoned Gotham amusement park; it had closed down after an accident with its main act: the flying Grayson's.

The performers had died in the middle of their performance traumatizing the entire audience and leaving their son an orphan.

But that made it the perfect hiding spot for low life criminals.

The sound of someone walking in the dead of the night could be heard in the abandoned amusement park.

The person was carrying a small suitcase and her face was obscured by a cap she was wearing.

The person was Mercy Grave, Lex Luthor assistant and top-assassin.

Mercy glared in annoyance as she approached her destination.

She wasn't someone that questioned her boss's orders; she had always believed that following an order without thinking of the consequences was better for her mental health, especially considering her line of work.

Plus she always had one hundred percent faith in Luthor, her current employer.

The man was a genius, he could see the bigger picture, he was the man who faced the Justice League at six in the afternoon and at eight he was having dinner at a fancy restaurant with the most powerful politicians in the world.

She rarely doubted her boss; she was always right beside him as he conducted his plans, from a friendly business meeting to trading punches with Superman.

But right now as she approached the abandoned theme park she started to question her boss's decision …

She was sent to fetch a man who put fear in the heart of even the coldest hearted monster out there.

He was the man who had filled graveyards in just one night.

He had held cities hostage.

Blew up buildings just for the sake of it.

And did all that with a large grin on his face.

The Joker.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA"

Mercy shivered in fear as she entered the building.

The Joker's insane laughter resonated in the abandoned building, growing stronger and stronger the closer Mercy got to the room where the maniac was.

"So one of you guys did something really funny today" the Joker said loudly as he twirled a knife in his hand.

The goons shared a look of worry as their boss started to stab the air, killing an imaginary foe.

"Harley just told me that one of you losers snitched…" he said as his grin faded and his eyes became dead serious.

One of the goons started to sweat bullets.

"And to Two-Face none the less" He said as he threw the knife at their feet.

"You know who I'm talking about right? The guy who his one half of a face looks like very nice bacon" the Joker then made a face

"But it sure doesn't taste like it, trust me I gave it a bite just out of curiosity, it tasted terrible" he giggled a little before he turned to his now disturbed henchman.

"So the point is that Two Face was very pissed off with me and he swore that he was going to get back at me soon and you know what? I just got a call from one of my boys and he just told me that SOME OF TWO FACE'S THUGS BURNED DOWN ONE OF MY SUPOSSEDLY SECRET VAULTS!" The joker yelled in rage.

Many of the thugs jumped in fear at the sudden outrage, the guy who was guilty started to fidget in his seat

"And I know it was one of YOU!" he said as he pointed at them.

The Joker passed a hand trough his unnatural green hair, his red eyes narrowed at the henchman.

He shook his head "But right now I'm expecting someone so I'm not going to ask who did it, I don't have the time and you know what they say time is worth more than money" the Joker said as he turned around facing a large clown head with terrifying red eyes.

A sense of relief washed over the goons.

"I'm going to kill all of you instead" the Joker said as he turned around with a machine gun on his hands and his signature insane smile.

"HAHAHAHAHA" The Joker laughed at the top of his lungs as he mowed down his entire henchman population and by the time he was done the only thing that was left was thirty bloodied corpses.

The man who was guilty of telling Two-Face started to crawl away from the massacre; he was badly hurt and was trying his best to escape.

"Now, that's not a nice thing to do" said a high pitched voice that belonged to Harley Quinn, Joker's second in command slash girlfriend.

"Mista J just wasted so much ammo on you guys and you can't even die right, that's why I prefer the personal approach" the girl in the jester outfit said in a sweet tone as she picked up a giant mallet that was resting against the wall.

"Now my baby will have to do the job and I had just cleaned it" she pouted cutely as she eyed him sadly "Why couldn't you die by the bullets, I hate cleaning and I'll have to clean it again ALL BECAUSE YOU COULDN'T DIE LIKE THE PIG YOU ARE!" Harley yelled in rage as she brought the hammer down on his head squashing it against the floor creating a very large pool of blood.

Mercy shook her head in disgust at the psychopaths, they had no class at all and they lacked morals and compassion

And that's why Luthor had chosen them for this mission.

The Joker was an anarchist, a chaos bringer someone who could de-stabilize any place that he was in.

And Luthor and his partner wanted him to do his work in this new dimension.

Mercy decided that it was time to make her presence know, she started to walk towards them, thanking God that she had decided to wear boots that day, the small pools of blood where impossible to avoid, she let out a sigh… it would take forever to wash it off.

"Good evening Joker, Harley" Mercy said to the clown prince of crime

"Mercy!" The Joker shouted in excitement as he jumped over one of the dead bodies to greet the assassin "it's been such a long time since we last seen each other! How is the bald sack doing? Has he finally managed to one up Superman oh wait that will never happen hehehe, his thick bald headed skull can't get the fact that he can't beat Superman can it?"

"The same way you can't beat Batman" Mercy shot back looking out for her boss's reputation.

"I don't want to kill Batman! If he is gone who is going to play with me?!" The Joker said in an exaggerated pout.

"I can play with you all sorts of games Mista J…" Harley said as she batted her eyelashes to the Joker.

The Joker wasn't that amused "Shut up Harley can't you see I'm having a conversation here, geez… you're being rude for no reason Harley you haven't even said hi to our old friend"

Harley crossed her arms and pouted "Maybe is because I don't like Mercy" she said as she glared daggers at her

Mercy suppressed the urge to slap the blonde jester in the face and simply nodded "The feeling is mutual Harley"

The Joker giggled a little before he turned serious "What do you want here anyways Luthor called me but didn't say any specifics"

Mercy nodded and took out a computer that she was carrying around, not wanting to waste this precious moment of the Joker being serious about something

"This is dimension R1; this universe is nothing like ours is ruled by a three superpowers and…"

"Yeah, yeah baldly already told me that it was another dimension, I don't care what the heck is going on that earth unless is raining monkeys, get to the point" The Joker interrupted Mercy.

Mercy shook her head and pointed at the screen "This happened recently in this dimension" she said as the screen came to life.

It appeared to be a parade of some sorts.

The Joker approached to the screen with interest as he saw a teen tied up surrounded by guards, the boy appeared to be saying something but was quickly silenced by the electric collar that he was wearing.

"Huhu this is getting interesting" The Joker commented as a very fancy looking car parked in front of the convoy

"YOU DARE TO MOCK PRINCE CLOVIS TRANSPORT?! COME OUT AT ONCE!" yelled one of the guards

"They have giant robots Mista J" Harley whispered to her beloved.

The Joker ignored her as he watched the events with more and more interest.

Suddenly the Britannian flag on top of the car burned down revealing a mysterious figure

"I am Zero"

And then the video got cut off

Mercy turned around and faced the Joker who was smiling ear to ear

"Oh well you look at that, a revolutionary man who wants to fight against the empire" The Joker shook his head "Heroes are all the same always fighting for the people they care about and protect the oppressed"

Mercy raised an eyebrow at him, since when the Joker was a philosopher?

"HEHE, but heroes all have a breaking point"

Harley stared at her "pudding" in confusion

"What do you mean mistah J?" the jester asked

The Joker opened his hands in a dramatic fashion "it means that I will find the thing that will break this hero, would it be mass murder, Terrorism or the dead of someone important, the possibilities are endless, I will rock that world to its core"

The Joker started to laugh "This is going to be so much FUN!"

 _LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

"YOU FOOL!" Lelouch yelled in rage at Suzaku as he left the building.

If his friend had heard him he didn't turn to acknowledge him.

Suzaku exited the warehouse his face one of determination.

Lelouch on the other hand watched his friend leave to his trial with an expression of disappointment and confusion.

Sure his name was cleared so he wouldn't be charged.

But was Suzaku really this stupid?

How could he betray his own people?

His Family?

Lelouch had just saved him and this is how he repaid him?!

By saying he was a terrorist and leaving to go to his trial

Is Suzaku really siding with the enemy?

"No he is just a fool, he will come around… in time he will see just how terrible and corrupt Britannia is" he said out loud as he started to walk towards the two rebels that had aided him in this rescue.

Kallen Satfeld and Ohgi, this two had been the only ones that had decided to help.

Kallen no longer suspected that Lelouch Lamperouge was Zero thanks to a little trick he had pulled.

He had geassed his maid Sayoko into playing a recorded message he had left for Kallen knowing full well that she was going to confront him after his little slip up.

But he still needed to act carefully around her, he didn't need Kallen on his trail right now.

"Zero…it was amazing how you managed to pull that off, thank you a lot" Ohgi said as he approached the masked revolutionary.

Kallen nodded besides him "Yeah, you really did what you promised us, so what's next?" she asked eagerly at the man that had managed to gain her respect in such a short amount of time.

"We will wait, I have big plans for your group but we have to wait, Britannia will not be brought down in just one night" Zero responded, his voice distorted thanks to his mask.

Kallen nodded a little disappointed but she was still very excited to know that Zero was not going to abandon them.

"If you excuse me I have one last thing to attend tonight, I will contact you when the time is right but for now lay low" Zero said turning towards the exit, his cape flowing behind him as he took his leave.

"Don't you think it's a little suspicious how he still has something else to do the same night we rescued this Kururugi character" Ohgi asked to his companion as they watched Zero leave.

The red head shrugged "Not really… maybe he has to talk to some of his allies, he is now the number one enemy of Britannia in area Eleven and with the new Viceroy arriving soon he has to be on the lookout" Kallen replied but Ohgi shook his head.

"Or he might contact Britannia… think about it, this might be all just be some big elaborate plan to infiltrate the Japanese rebellion, a guy like him just doesn't pop out of the blue"

Kallen looked at her friend in disbelief "After what he did for us Japanese you doubt him!?"

"Suzaku is just one person who might or might have not have killed Prince Clovis, he is expandable and you just saw him return to his own trial we technically accomplished nothing except clearing the name of a fellow eleven" Ohgi countered.

"So you're saying zero might just be a spy?!" Kallen asked her face as red as her hair.

"I know you want him to be one of us… to fight for what we believe, but we can never be too sure, he might be a wolf in sheep clothing" Ohgi put a hand on Kallen's shoulder

"So what are you suggesting?" Kallen asked defeated at his logic.

"We follow him" Ohgi deadpanned as he started walking.

Kallen stared at him in shock, she shook her head and grabbed him by the shoulders

"ARE YOU INSANE?! What if he sees us?!" Kallen yelled at him

"He is going to hear us too if you keep talking like that" Ohgi replied with a smirk

"oh shut up… but my point still stands we don't want to anger him right now what If he truly is what he says he is and we just manage to destroy our only way of getting back at Britannia" Kallen said in a more hushed tone.

"If he is what he says he is then I will welcome him with open arms as my leader but for now I don't trust him completely" Ohgi said as they followed Zero.

"I still think what we're doing is stupid" Kallen said with a small frown.

Ohgi allowed himself a small smile, her attitude reminded him of her brother.

Zero frowned under the mask, someone was following him.

He could tell by the shadows and the sound of muffled walking.

'Kallen and Ohgi' he thought with a small smirk.

Apparently they needed to work on their sneaking skills.

'Well mostly Ohgi, Kallen is doing fine he had just managed to discover it was her thanks to the shadows.

Good, if they wanted to follow him so be it.

They were about to get involved in a bigger game than the one they had just managed to pull off.

He slowed down his pace allowing his pursuers to catch up with him.

Lelouch felt kind of bad involving this two characters into an even bigger mess than the one they were already involved but he needed to form a small group that could help him with things from the other dimension.

He started to move towards the designated meeting point that the Justice League had chosen.

 _Flashback:_

 _Lelouch waited patiently for his guests at a cafe, he casually sipped his coffee as he looked at the hour._

" _Any second now" he muttered._

 _Lelouch had managed to uncover some interesting info from one of his teachers._

 _His history teacher was talking about the culture in Area eleven before it was colonized by the Great Britannian Empire, Lelouch had asked his professor about the supernatural powers here in Japan._

 _The professor delighted that Lelouch was taking interest in… well something besides sleeping in class, told him some of the myths of Area Eleven but then the professor admitted that sadly he didn't know that much, but he knew that the monks may still have some information regarding the matter._

 _They apparently still inhabited the mountains and Britannia decided to let them be as long as they paid the fee that the authorities imposed on them._

 _Lelouch returned to his dorm and got to work, he hacked into the Britannian Police department, which wasn't really that hard, and got the location of the nearest monastery._

 _Now here he was waiting for his "allies" to show up, hoping that the information proved to be useful, he had also managed to get them fake IDs so that they could come and go unnoticed._

" _Hey there Lelouch" Superman greeted as he took a seat, followed by Batman and Wonder Woman._

 _Even in their civilians clothing they still looked really intimidating, Lelouch thought with a smile._

 _Power can't be hidden so easily._

 _Lelouch nodded at them "Glad you could make in time, I hope the house that I got for you is satisfactory?"_

 _Wonder Woman nodded "Yeah, we are all settled and thanks to Mr. Paranoia here" she said jerking a thumb towards Batman's direction "we have the entire house secured, not even a fly can enter without us knowing"_

 _Batman stared at the exiled prince "Not to sound impatient or anything but why did you call us here"_

 _Lelouch nodded and gave them a folder that he had been carrying "Inside the folder is the IDs you asked for"_

 _Superman nodded and grabbed the folder and looked at Lelouch "so kid there's no way no convince you not to do the thing you planned for tonight right?"_

 _Lelouch shook his head "I have made up my mind, I owe Suzaku and it's the perfect way to make myself know as an enemy of Britannia"_

 _Superman let out a sigh "And helping you is out of the question right?"_

 _Lelouch nodded "Absolutely, you guys don't have to attract attention to yourselves"_

 _Wonder Woman looked at him with a small smile "Still if you need help just let us know please, we're allies aren't we?"_

 _Lelouch nodded and handed Batman a paper._

 _The Dark knight raised an eyebrow at him "What's this?"_

" _is the location of local monastery I have been doing some research about supernatural happenings in Area Eleven but sadly it appears that all information has been erased or destroyed, the only persons that might know something are the monks who live in the mountains that's the location I have given you" Lelouch responded as he finished his coffee._

 _Batman narrowed his eyes._

" _Something wrong Bruce?" Wonder Woman asked._

" _Yes, I know this place" Batman said his frown deepening._

" _Well plan on sharing?" Superman asked a little concerned._

" _This one of the old hideouts that belonged to the League of Shadows" Bruce said in a low tone._

" _You mean Ra's could …" Wonder Woman started._

" _Exist in this universe? Yes is a high possibility" Batman finished for her._

 _Superman shook his head "That's good and bad at the same time, in one hand he could help us find this thing that Darkseid is looking for faster or he could prove to be a threat"_

" _Or both, Ra's has always been a lose card" Wonder Woman said, a small frown forming on her face._

" _I'm sorry to interrupt your planning but who is this Ra's that you speak off" Lelouch asked feeling a little out of the loop._

" _He is a terrorist who believes that he has to clench the world from evil… by killing all humans who he deems impure and he only sees his followers, called the League of Assassin, as pure" Bruce said._

" _Sounds like he is handful" Lelouch remarked_

" _And to boot he is immortal" Wonder Woman added._

" _WHAT?!" Lelouch yelled._

 _Superman smiled "I know this might crazy but… is it really weirder than our existence and dimension traveling"_

 _Lelouch passed a hand through his hair "I guess not but I still find it hard to believe, you know what they say you've got to see to believe"_

 _Wonder Woman brought a hand to her chin "But if Ra's is alive that means that immortality here also exists"_

" _Yes… so?" Superman asked_

" _Well that would mean that someone else with immortality also exist in this world, a man who has been around far longer than Ra's" Wonder Woman replied_

 _Superman and Batman's eyes widened "Vandal Savage"_

 _She nodded and continued "Yes, he has been around since the Ice Age and he doesn't need the Lazarus Pit to survive"_

" _Do you know where any of this two could be" Lelouch asked, hoping they were closer to finding the object that Darkseid wanted._

" _We could use their old hideouts, but first things first we will go to the location that you just gave us, but first we need to discuss a meeting point after you're done with your rescue mission"_

 _(End of Flashback)_

Lelouch entered the dark alley followed closely by his two "followers", Ohgi raised an eyebrow at the place, it didn't look like a place where someone like Zero would hang around.

Zero then disappeared into one of the buildings.

This one had been destroyed and was barely standing.

Kallen let out a sigh, why had she listened to Ohgi, she could have been in bed right now.

The two rebels waited a moment for their eyes to adjust to the darkness and saw Zero talking to three cloaked figures

"…yes I went to the place just to see what we're up against and its definitely them there's no way normal monks need weapons and kunais" the tallest of the figures said.

Kallen eyes widened, just who where this people and who were the talking about.

"We also managed to see your rescue, nice work" a feminine voice said.

"Thank you, so shall we go?" Zero replied.

"What do we do about your two friends over there" the third cloaked figure said its voice deeper than the other two, pointing at where Kallen and Ohgi where hiding.

Ohgi jumped in fright and pulled out his gun, shooting at the figures.

The tallest one stood took the bullets to the chest, but he didn't fall dead.

He simply kept walking towards them.

Kallen shook her head in disbelief, what the hell was going on?

She felt a sharp object against her neck "Don't move" a deep voice commanded.

Kallen kicked him and manage to escape his grip, she turned around to face her adversary only to stare into white eyes.

"Don't move kid" the dark knight said

"Yeah like I will listen to the guy who was about to cut my throat!" she yelled as she got into a brawl with the ominous looking figure.

Poor Ohgi was not fairing any better he had just wasted all his ammo on this guy and he was still standing!

Superman let out sigh, people where so aggressive in this place.

Not that he could really blame them

"That's enough" Superman said as he grabbed the gun with one hand and shattered it.

Ohgi stared in disbelief and he was to turn around and run but he was met with a blade.

"I wouldn't go anywhere if I were you" Wonder Woman said with a smile.

Batman was impressed with this young lady she was doing her best to keep up with her opponent and she was doing a very good job.

She had managed to doge moves that most people couldn't have and keeping up with him in martial arts was no small feat, even if he was holding back a little.

Batman threw a baterang which Kallen avoided.

"You missed" she said with a smirk.

"Think again" Batman replied, as the baterang returned and hit Kallen on the back of the head, dropping her to the ground.

She groaned in pain and quickly found herself handcuffed.

Zero approached her "Are you all right Kallen" he asked as he cupped her cheek, his voice sounding a little worried.

She blushed but nodded "Yeah I'm ok just my pride is hurt, Zero what the hell is going on, who are this people, why did they attack us?"

Zero stayed silent for a moment before answering "They are my friends and I think you can't blame them from protecting themselves, after all you where the one that shot first"

Kallen looked angrily at Ohgi who was now held at sword point by Wonder Woman.

"Yeah that is a really stupid thing to do, isn't it Ohgi" she said with venom in her voice.

Ohgi looked away, Zero decided to intervene before things escalated.

"Well I think introductions are do, Kallen and Ohgi I would like you to meet the justice League"

 **A/N: And cut, sorry about this filler chapter but it had to be done in order to know what is going to happen next, also I would like to say sorry… you know because I made you wait for such a long time… yeah sorry but life was hard, but things are smoother now so I think I will update faster.**

 **Regarding the pairings, harem is wining as of right now, I have no problem writing it but I really want it to be up to you guys.**

 **So please leave a review if you want a specific pairing or if you're cool with harem.**

 **And if you find any mistake please let me know.**

 **Anyways that's all for now and I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	5. Chapter 5

Shadow of Zero

Chapter 5

" **You are a sentient mortal condemned to die. And time is against you. And someday you will be forced to embrace fear for the quiet and meaningless truth that it is. Consider this a prophecy and consider ME the prophet"**

 **Jonathan Crane, Aka Scarecrow**

 **Batman: No man's land -Fear of faith.**

Lelouch was no stranger to fear, he had felt it many times throughout his short life.

Some had been normal kid fears, like his mother catching him still up way past his bed time, or never being able to beat his older brother at chess.

But he knew fear that some man may never experience in life.

He felt fear as he watched his mother laying on the staircase of his own house knowing she was dead.

He felt terrible fear as his own father banished him to Japan.

In Shinjuku he thought he was dead for sure, until he was saved by that strange green haired girl.

And then he had been transported to a different dimension and learned about an upcoming threat that could end his entire universe.

Lelouch had actually learned how to harden his nerves and show no fear.

So now that he was being targeted by more than twenty machine guns he barely even raised an eyebrow.

He looked at his comrades, the justice league looked calm, while Ohgi and Kallen looked that they were about to faint.

Lelouch actually wondered if it was good idea to bring those two along.

It had been already hard enough to convince them that Superman was wearing a special bullet proof best and that he was going to ask for help from the monks.

But as soon as he let that part out, Kallen had wanted to help.

He admired the young girl for being so devoted to her cause and country, but he wasn't so sure how this might turn out and he would hate to have her blood on his hands, for some reason he felt close to her.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that he had seen her repeatedly on his vision of the future.

Was she important in the future? In his future?

Lelouch decided that he would think of it later.

"My name is Zero, I'm pretty sure you have already heard of me, I come here to speak to your leader"

The guards at the door glared at him.

"What business does a terrorist and a murderer have with our leader?"

"Because I know you're not just monks, I mean what type of monks carry machine guns…and have Knightmares"

One of the guards frowned deeply "How the hell do you know that?"

"Let's just say I have my resources" Zero said mysteriously.

The guard glared at him and said something to the others in Japanese and after some minutes of shouting they decided to let them in.

"Try anything funny and we'll blow your brains out, you're lucky our leader wants to meet you Zero" the guard said angrily as he motioned them to move.

Kallen let out a sigh of relief only to immediately tense up again as they entered the monastery.

From the outside it looked like an ancient temple covered in dirt and vines. But in the inside it was a military building.

They were a lot of soldiers eying them warily and some Knightmares with their weapons pointed at them.

Lelouch paid them no mind as he followed their guide, out of the corner of his eyes he could see his companions follow him.

Bruce was nervous, not because they couldn't win, the Justice League had faced worse odds and some giant robots were not going to slow people like Wonder Woman and Superman.

But what worried him was meeting the leader, what if it wasn't Ra's?

And if it was, would he be the same insane murderer?

Bruce's question were soon answered as they reached a dark chamber.

They heard chanting and the lights were growing more distant.

Soon enough they were walking in complete darkness, the only thing guiding them was the lone flashlight of their guide.

" **Who dare to interrupt the great Ra's Al Ghul"** a very grave voice said making everyone jump.

"Forgive the intrusion, but Zero has come to speak with our lord" said the ninja.

The large man that guarded his master looked livid

" **And why would Ra's Al Ghul speak with a terrorist, we should just kill them …!"**

"Enough"

He was interrupted by his master, who simply raised his hand and silenced the brute.

"Leave us"

The ninja bowed and left the dark chamber, Lelouch took a step forward and bowed just a little to show respect to the man who appeared to command a great rebel force.

"Greetings Ra's Al Ghul, I have heard a lot of things about you"

Ra's didn't turn to acknowledge him but he hummed, signalling him to continue.

"You see my… associates and I are looking for something, this thing is not common and it's very well hidden and we thought that a man of so much knowledge such as yourself might be able to help us"

Ra's brought a cup of tea to his lips and at last turned to stare at the peculiar group in front of him. A masked revolutionary, three hooded figures and two Japanese rebels…well he assumed the read head was Japanese, why would a half Britannian ally herself with Zero?

Ra's snorted, he probably offered her something, after all that's how the world works.

"Why would a masked revolutionary seek the help of someone who is hidden in the only monastery in Japan? If you're looking for weapons you're better off asking the Six Houses of Kyōto" Ra's said bluntly.

"Because what I'm looking for is something more…mystical" Zero replied quickly.

Ah so that's what he wanted, Ra's thought, seeking powers that surpassed the usual means of warfare.

Ra's rose from where he was meditating.

"And what is that you seek?"

"Something that even the gods desire, something that would make powerful beings travel the entire cosmos for it" Zero said not once stuttering.

Kallen looked nervously between her leader and this unknown man.

'This is insane' she thought 'What on earth are they talking about?'

Ra's on the other hand was amused, he had some faint idea of what this boy was asking for. But why would he be chasing after such a thing was beyond him.

"I know what you seek, but first you must tell me something" Ra's demanded.

Zero nodded slowly waiting for the question.

"You seek something to challenge Britannia do you not? Something that would tip the scales in your favour"

"Something like that"

"Well, **boy** , let me tell you that you're on a fool's errand, no matter how hard you try nothing in this world would change"

Zero stared at him confusedly "what do you mean?" he asked keeping his voice levelled.

Ra's smirked "This world has been and always will be the same, I have seen emperors rise and fall, I saw with my own eyes when Ricardo von Britannia was crowned the first emperor of Britannia, I was at the palace of Versailles when Napoleon declared his revolution and I even remember when the eunuchs took over China and you know what? All those three events had something in common… all these three "super powers" are greedy, corrupt and irredeemable to my eyes" he paused to let his words sink in.

Zero remained quiet, which Ra's saw a sign for him to continue.

"Humans have become a pest that only gets worst from generation to generation, so no matter what you do you can't change the world Zero, all people in the world are inherently bad…unless they are trained to be like myself and my League" Ra's said with a hint of pride.

Lelouch frowned under the mask, the images of certain crippled little girl, a pink haired girl who would do anything to help the people around her, his friends back at Ashford and his best friend who he had just saved from execution hours ago came to his mind "No you're wrong there's still some good people in this day and age, I've seen it"

Ra's shook his head "So naive, if you keep thinking like that you'll die really fast Zero"

"If it brings peace to this world then I can die happy" Zero said.

"Peace…such a stupid word" Ra's said as he walked over to a small shrine and pulled a sword from the pedestal "But you do realize that some people don't want peace right"

Lelouch glared at him as Ra's gave the sword a few twirls "Some men such as myself believe in something far greater, you see all species in this planet go through something inevitable…extinction, all species when they are at their peak they face something that will challenge their existence and they can do two things: they adapt or perish. The time has come for humans to past the test and from the ashes of mankind a new breed of humans will rise, evolved humans cable of adapting and I will lead the into greatness"

Zero shook his head "You're a deluded mad-man, you could never destroy all of mankind"

Ra's chuckled "Really now, please follow me" he said as he walked to the exit.

As they walked outside cave, Kallen tugged at Zero's cape trying to get his attention.

"Zero, this man is insane what do we do now?" she asked in hushed tone.

"For now we play along, he has the upper hand, but I want to know more about him, he knows about the Six Houses of Kyōto and from the looks of it his followers are fiercely loyal to him, which means one of two things: they're all insane or they know something that we don't and until we know for sure we'll let him ramble"

Kallen frowned "I just… don't like this… he gives off this really creepy vibe, when he picked up that sword I thought the he was going to try to slice you in half"

Zero nodded "Yes I thought that for a second too, but I promise you we will get out of here soon"

Kallen nodded and continued to follow her leader…she guessed that she just had to prepare herself for the worst.

Kallen was still unsure if she should think of him as a leader because Zero still hadn't made it official but he had trusted them enough to come along with him and his weird friends.

Kallen still felt a little bit weary of them, Zero had explained that the one guy with the ridiculous outfit could withstand all the bullets Ohgi had shot at him because of a special suit that he was wearing (even though it made him look ridiculous in Kallen's opinion) and the other two were just some people with special armour and a sword.

Why the guy in the armour decided to look like a bat was beyond Kallen, but if Zero trusted them she will give them a shot.

Ra's led them back to the garden where most of the guards where positioned and yelled at his subordinates to bring him something.

Soon enough a large truck parked in front of them, two guards opened the back of the truck revealing a large box.

Ra's ordered that it was opened and they quickly complied.

Zero took a step back in shock that was…

"A sakuradite bomb a highly volatile one, these weapons are far more effective than those pathetic chaos mines" Ra's said smiling

"Judging by your reaction you're familiar with them, aren't you Zero?" he said with clear sadistic glee.

"Of course I know what they are!" Zero yelled "These weapons where so instable and volatile that Britannia banned them for good"

"And why did they banned them?" Ra's said with a knowing smirk.

Lelouch gritted his teeth "They used them in a war" he said with disgust evident on his tone

"They used them just one time and it was more than enough, when the EU tried take control of south Argentina they dropped one of this bombs on the area of the battlefield, the blast radius was larger than expected and it killed not only the EU forces but Britannians as well, it killed thousands of Argentinians and Britannians and now that place has become a barren wasteland"

Ra's smiled "Indeed, it was hard to secure one of this but I think is a good start I have my scientist working on more of them and my first target will be the Chinese Federation…" Ra's continued to ramble but Lelouch had tuned him out of his mind, he was planning on how to take him down he looked over to League and they looked ready to punch him into oblivion.

Kallen who was next to him was looking at Ra's in hatred and disgust, Zero place a hand on her shoulder "If I get you a Knightmare could you battle against those three" he said in a hushed tone.

Kallen looked over and saw three Knightmares with their guns pointed at them, they were brand new, not a dent in their armour. But from the sloppy movements and the poor direction sense that they had she guessed that the pilots where not experienced in the machines.

Kallen nodded slowly and prepared herself.

With one last nod towards the Justice League, Zero raised his voice.

"I will not allow you to hurt innocent people Ra's, this plan of yours will not come to fruition I will see to it"

Ra's shook his head "You're an idealistic fool, you plan to change the world yet you only target Britannia as your enemy, in order to change the world you must change the people in it"

"No he is not" Superman shook off the large cloak that covered him, the big S on his chest making itself visible once more under night sky.

"He believes in humans and their ability to care for one another, something you have clearly lost Ra's and I will not allow what you're planning to do" Clark said severely.

Ra's chuckled at his appearance "Did you got lost on your way to the fair?"

Batman and Wonder Woman dropped their cloaks as well, both glaring at the mad man.

Ra's looked at them in confusion, did they honestly think they had the upper hand here? They were clearly insane, but the sword on the woman's hip was interesting.

Did they intended to attack them from the beginning?

It didn't matter now.

"Very well, my assassins" he called towards the ninja's that were gathered in the garden.

"Kill them"

The guards wiped out their machine guns and started to shoot at them.

Kallen screamed but to her surprise she wasn't hit by any bullets. In front of her Superman was taking all of them, he wasn't even flinching as the bullets bounced off him as if they were nothing but flies, she thought in amazement.

Batman dropped a few smoke pellets and covered the entire garden in mist.

"God-dammit, hold your fire we might shoot each other in this mist!" one guard yelled.

Kallen felt someone grab her by the shoulder "Zero said you could pilot those things, is it true" Wonder Woman asked.

Kallen nodded and got up from where she was kneeling "Yeah, I just need to get to them"

Wonder Woman smirked "Leave that to me"

And with that she motioned Kallen to follow her. Both of them moved through the mist slowly alert of any sound.

"I FOUND SOME…" one guard yelled but his throat was grabbed by Wonder Woman, she frowned at him and smashed him against the ground rendering unconscious. She took out her shield and prepared for the upcoming attack.

"Go, the machine is straight ahead I'll cover you" she said calmly.

Kallen wanted to argue but knew that right now the really needed a Knightmare. She sprinted towards the lone Knightmare that had been abandoned in the garden, she needed to get there fast the mist was starting to dissipate and soon they wouldn't have cover and they will be as good as dead.

She reached the Knightmare and was about to activate it when she heard the sound of footsteps, she ducked to cover and took out a knife that she was carrying with her

'Dammit Ohgi' she cursed mentally 'why don't you let me carry a gun'

As the mist dissipated completely she got a good look at her opponents, there were two classes from what she could see. Some guys whore a traditional ninja outfit with katana and all.

The others were clearly guerrilla soldiers, machine guns, grenades, knives etc.

Kallen saw a shadow pass on top of her, she turned to look and saw Batman perched up in the head of the Knightmare.

'What is he doing?' She wondered, did he really think he could take all of them at once.

Without a warning Batman dropped from the head of the Knightmare and landed on top of one of the guards.

Kallen heard a sickening 'crack' followed by the scream of the guard. Batman wasted no time and punched the nearest guard with enough strength to make him drop his weapon. Batman then from his utility belt grabbed three baterangs and hurled them at the remaining guards with guns.

As soon as the made contact with them they created a small explosion, dropping them to the ground.

One ninja jumped into the air and attempted to slice Batman in half with his katana, but he felt a powerful hand grab him by the leg.

He soon found himself crashing onto the ground, he turned to look around only to see a black boot crashing against his face.

Batman frowned, these goons where not used to dealing with super heroes so they over underestimated him.

It worked to his advantage but he had to admit that his pride was little bit wounded. Back in his world all these guys will be pissing their pants right now.

He sighted and turned his attention to the only two remaining ninjas who started to circle him. They were going to attack both at once, they just needed an opening he realized.

He smirked, all right then, he would give them one.

He dropped his hand by his sides and like clockwork both ninjas charged at him, Bruce masterfully took a step back just at the right time to make them miss their target. He extended both hands and grabbed them by the back of their head. With a powerful pull he smashed both of their skull together with enough force to create a concussion.

Batman dropped them and stared at Kallen.

"Get in that thing kid, those machines are still giving us trouble"

Kallen shook out of her shock and quickly got into the Knightmare, she knew that she didn't have the code but she did have the keys of this model from the battle of Shinjuku, she was just glad she had kept it as a token of good luck.

She started and when she asked for the code, Kallen smashed the screen, she knew that if this where a Britannian Knightmare it would send a distress signal, but this was an illegal Knightmare, so she was all good.

She grabbed the communicator from her pocket and signalled Zero "Zero, are you there?" after some tense moments he replied.

"I'm here Q-1, I just had to get away from the fight and get a clear view of the entire battlefield so we could have an advantage"

Kallen raised an eyebrow "Where are you now?"

"On the top of the entire monastery" he said

Kallen turned and saw Zero standing four storeys high in what looked to be a very un-safe place.

"Don't worry Q-1 I will tell you where the enemies are" he said with confidence.

Kallen bit her lip, but she nodded none the less "Right, I trust you Zero don't let me down now"

And with that she accelerated towards the enemies mowing them down with her weapon.

From high above Lelouch smiled.

He was really lucky to have a girl like her at his side, maybe he would give Kallen's group a shot.

He looked down and saw two Knightmares approaching Kallen from the right.

"Kallen at your right, use your slash harkens to take care of those two enemy Knightmares"

"Got it" Kallen replied, she then quickly turned around and fired her slash harkens at the Knightmares ripping them in two.

Kallen smirked, these guys where really bad, any adept Knightmare pilot would have blocked it with the Knightmare's arm but these guys just kept shooting at her like dumbasses. Kallen heard a battle cry and turned around to see Wonder Woman lift a large pillar that supported the structure and throw it at a Knightmare, rendering it useless.

The entire building shook and Kallen gasped 'Zero is on the very top of the building!' she realized.

"Hey watch out, Zero is up there if destabilize the building more it will fall along with him!" she yelled.

Wonder Woman looked up to her and let out a sigh "Oh thank the gods I found you, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to recognize you and accidently destroy you"

Kallen shivered, she just saw the woman grab a frigging pillar and obliterate Knightmare with it.

She was about to reply when her Knightmare took multiple shots.

She let out an annoyed groan, she was about to blast that thing into oblivion when, the Knightmare was lifted from the ground.

Kallen's jaw dropped when she saw Superman fly with the Knightmare in his hands and then he ripped it in two.

He let the two pieces that belonged to the machine fall at his sides and turned to Wonder Woman "I think we're almost done here, I think only like five more of these…things left, but sadly Ra's disappeared and I can't pick locate him with my X-ray vision"

Wonder Woman let out sigh "That's bad, what about the bomb?"

"This girl's friend took it, as soon as Batman dropped the pellets I took him to the truck and told him to drive towards his base, I made sure he made it out ok"

Wonder Woman nodded satisfied "At least we don't have to worry about him nuking China for a while"

Superman smiled "Yes that takes some weight off our backs"

From up above Zero continued to give order "Q-1 the remaining nightmares are approaching they should be easy to dispatch, they're five in total and ten guards armed to the teeth I would watch out for grenades"

"Thanks Zero I'll be working on it" Kallen replied.

Lelouch frowned, this is not what he intended when he came here, he had wanted knowledge and Ra's had refused to provide him an answer even thought it was clear that he knew what Lelouch was looking for.

He shook his head, he could lament the missing info later right now he had to focus on the battle.

Lelouch devilishly smiled as he saw how easily Kallen mowed down three Knightmares with ease, the other two were destroyed by Wonder Woman and Superman.

He was about to move from his post when he felt himself being stabbed through the shoulder.

Lelouch let out a cry of pain as he was forced to the ground by the blade.

"A pity I was really hoping you would see things my way, vigilante" Ra's said calmly, as if he was asking for the weather.

He twisted the sword a little but making Lelouch groan in pain "But sadly I cannot change the way people see the world, even if their view of it is flawed" he said as he removed the sword from Lelouch's shoulder.

With a kick he made him turn around so that he could see the masked vigilante "face" to face.

"You made quite the loud introduction, is only fitting that you go out on a whimper" Ra's said as he raised his sword ready to strike him down.

But as he was about to cut Lelouch's head off, the building shook and trembled.

Ra's moved to edge of the building and looked down enraged "Those idiots are trying to drop the building on top of your friends" he said with barely contained anger.

He let out a sigh "I better move, I hope you enjoy the view as you fall to your death, goodbye Zero"

Lelouch groaned in pain, but when Ra's was close enough he stabbed him on the leg with a knife he was carrying. Ra's let out a cry of pain and looked down to see Zero holding the knife firmly refusing to let go of him.

"I won't let you get away" he said, Ra's snorted and brought the sword down onto his arm, piercing the skin.

"Oh but you will boy, you're a tactician not a fighter you're tired while I can still keep on fighting" Ra's said as he pushed Zero off him.

Lelouch felt the building collapse under him and soon enough he felt himself falling.

He tried desperately to get a hold of anything and grabbed onto a small statue that was on the roof.

His right arm was killing him and his left arm was useless thank to the stab on the shoulder.

Lelouch decided to look down and immediately regretted it, he was dangling and the building was about to collapse and down there all that awaited him was a fiery inferno, as the building burned down and… a pool with green water?

He heard a noise and saw Ra's stepping on the statue he was currently dangling from "See you in hell vigilante"

Ra's started to kick the statue, making Lelouch almost loose his grip on it.

Lelouch knew that he was doomed, he was never the strongest guy and there was no physical way he could pull himself up from where he was.

Lelouch was scared once more, fear over taking his senses.

He hear the sound of a gunshot being fired and his face was hit with blood he looked up and saw Ra's holding his now bullet riddled body.

Ra's knees gave out and he fell to the fiery inferno bellow, Lelouch heard a loud splat as he hit against the shallow pool down below.

Lelouch's vision started to blur and he finally let go of the statue.

Superman grabbed him before he hit the floor but he was already unconscious when they both reached the ground.

He was bleeding very badly.

Kallen, who had been the one to shoot Ra's, ran up to him.

"ZERO!" she yelled as she saw the state of her leader.

Batman approached the mask revolutionary and examined the wounds, Batman frowned and with a baterang he cut some layers of his clothing so that he could work on the wounds, he closed the wounds as fast as he could to prevent too much blood loss and when he was sure they weren't going to tear apart again he looked at Superman "He's stabilized for now but we need to take him to his place, where he can get proper treatment"

Superman nodded and picked him up before he was stopped by Kallen who grabbed his arm.

"Wait you can't! What if he gets injured on his way back we need to bring some help here…"

Superman smiled and shook his head "No it's better if I take him to his home, the people from there won't betray him, it's far too risky to ask for help, he is the most wanted man of Japan as of right now"

Kallen frowned, still not happy with the idea.

Wonder Woman put a hand on her shoulder "Don't worry he will be fine, we will tell him to contact you as soon as he is conscious"

Kallen nodded and let go of Superman's arm.

With one last nod he took off disappearing into the starry night of Japan.

Kallen stared at where we once was before letting out the breath she didn't know she was holding in "It still creeps me out how you guys took down all those guys"

Batman said nothing as they walked towards one of the trucks that had survived "We will take you to your base and take the bomb"

Kallen nodded as she entered the truck, she couldn't help but to look back at the sky.

Zero had saved a lot of lives today, she hoped he didn't have to lose his.

She closed her eyes and let out a small prayer for her what she supposed was her new leader.

 **A/N:**

 **Hey there! Hoped you liked the new chapter it was really fun to write I hope it doesn't seem too rushed or anything.**

 **I have just some quick news to give, first of all I want to say that I have officially decided to postpone the whole pairings thing at least for a while. I will taste the water with some character and if you guys like it and I feel is appropriate then I will go for it.**

 **Secondly I want to proudly announce that the next chapter will be the episode where CC is introduced and also Euphemia and Cornelia. I'm super excited about it.**

 **Regarding the Joker he won't show up until the whole hotel fiasco thingy. Trust me is going to be a "blast".**

 **Also: what did you guys thought of Suicide Squad?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 6**

 **"False tears bring pain to others. A false smile brings pain to yourself." - C.C.**

 **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω**

The Viceroy's palace on Area Eleven was the tallest building in the entire island, it could be seen from miles and was the center of the city. It was grandiose in design and represented the glory of the Britannian Empire.

Clovis was the one who ordered the construction of the building as soon as he was appointed Viceroy of area Eleven, the flamboyant prince had filled the palace of the finest paintings (most of them made by himself) the most beautiful statues, fountains and rooms that were giant in space capable of harboring at least one hundred people.

But as Euphemia walked through the palace she couldn't help but to feel that it was empty.

Euphemia had arrived in Japan not so long ago, she had originally planned to assist to her brother's funeral but with the whole Zero spectacle she had been unable to.

The pink haired girl stared sadly at one of the paintings Clovis had created on his time on earth, like most of the stuff he did the painting was beautiful, full of life and detail. It was a drawing of the Pendragon palace, their home.

To this day she didn't understand why did Clovis had been elected Viceroy of Area Eleven, he had been party lover and artist not a diplomatic leader.

And now he was dead, killed by a masked man who had declared himself the murderer on live TV. She arrived at one of the balconies and decided she could use some fresh air to clear her head.

She looked at the city bellow her and thought about the siblings she had lost to this Area.

Clovis, Nunnally and… Lelouch.

She closed her eyes at the painful memory.

Lelouch, her older and closest sibling, the one who had always been by her side in her childhood. He had died on the day of the invasion, or at least that was what the reports told.

Cornelia refused to believe it, insisting that they were hiding somewhere in the Area, the only reason why she had not searched the whole country was because her father had dimmed the matter "unworthy". Cornelia had cursed and punched anything in her room that day until she was too exhausted and her hands to bloody to continue.

Unlike her older sister Euphemia didn't hate anyone, but her father had never been her favorite person. His believes where completely different than her own and he treated everyone around him as if they were tools to achieve a goal.

It didn't matter if it was Schneizel, prime minister of the empire one of the most if not the most intelligent person on the planet, or Guinevere the Marie Antoinette of Britannia who only knew how to whine and look pretty.

But for what Euphemia resented her father the most was the complete lack of care of the Vi Britannia siblings. Left for dead in a country torn apart by war.

Euphemia looked at the stars and remembered how she and Lelouch had used to cuddle together on the garden and count them.

"I miss you Lelouch" she said softly.

"Cornelia insist that you're still out there but after all these years I'm starting to lose hope" the only answer she got was the wind softly moving her pink hair.

"But I promise you I will do everything in my power to change the empire for the better in your memory and Nunnally's"

She was about to return inside when she saw something move out of the corner of her eye, something was flying by, it looked like a person.

She giggled, how silly of her, maybe it was just a large bird or something like that. And with that she returned outside, already making plans on how to escape tomorrow so that she could look at area eleven more up-close and personal and learn the struggles of the people in here.

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Superman cursed under his breath, Lelouch was bleeding a lot and there were no signs of him stopping, he could risk flying faster but that could tear the wounds further and that would only be worse for the exiled prince.

He had just passed the Viceroy palace, he was so close to Ashford Academy he just needed to find Lelouch's room and ask Lelouch's maid for help. After some quick x-ray vision he identified the building and started to move towards it.

He cursed his foolishness, he should have searched for Ra's, now their only ally in this world was gravely injured.

He entered the building and soon enough he found the apartment, he knocked on the door loudly. After some tense seconds of waiting the door partly opened.

"Miss. Sayoko I'm sorry to disturb you but your charge is badly hurt" Superman stated.

The door was quickly opened and Sayoko grabbed Lelouch in her arms, concern on her face.

"How did this happen?" she asked as he undressed the boy to look at the wound more clearly.

"The boy fought against a terrorist and got stabbed in the shoulder and in his left arm, he has some minor laceration on his ribs and back product of a collapsing building, thankfully he escaped without any bullet wounds. He just got scrapped by one in the right leg.

Sayoko nodded and continued to work "He's Zero" she stated as she finished to remove the fancy attire that her charge was wearing.

Clark said nothing, believing that it was better for Lelouch to explain the situation.

The boy started to stir, his eyes opening slightly "S…a…Sayoko" he muttered weakly, the maid put a hand on the cheek of the boy she had technically raised.

"I'm here master Lelouch" she said "you need to rest, these wounds are very severe and I don't think I can heal them with the medical equipment I have at hand"

Sayoko saw her charge stiffen, he understood the unspoken request they needed to get help and fast.

"Milly…" he said at last, Sayoko nodding and making her way to the phone.

Lelouch closed his eyes and fell into deep sleep once more.

Clark looked at the boy and was hit with the realization that this kid kind of reminded him of Bruce.

Both were vigilantes fighting injustice coming back home completely exhausted and mauled to be nursed back to health by their assistants.

Superman decided that it was time to take his leave, the boy had been stabilized and Bruce and Diana where probably waiting for him.

After all he needed to get rid of the nuclear bomb they had acquired from Ra's, he guessed that it wouldn't hurt to throw it into the sun, after all it would explode before it reached the star.

He would return tomorrow to check on the boy.

He opened the window and left, elevating higher and higher into the starry night of Japan.

Unknowns to him, a figure had been spying on him the entire time he had been there.

C.C stared in shock as she watched the man fly off into the distance, defying all the laws of physics as he did.

She approached the young prince, he was breathing with difficulty and his eyes where darting from side to side.

He was having a nightmare she realized

"I was worried for a moment when I lost complete track of you for like a day you know" she said to Lelouch who remained unresponsive.

"Your sister was worried about you, we talked for a while… she is nice" she continued "I just hope you are the one boy and don't you dare die before you complete our contract" she said, she let out a sigh and decided it was best to wander around for the night, she would return when the boy regained consciousness.

She exited the building quietly as possible and started walking without a destination in mind.

C.C looked at the sky once more, she had been here a long time yet she couldn't find an explanation for what she just witnessed

"No Marianne I didn't imagine that"

 **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω**

Milly rubbed her eyes as she approached the phone on her dorm, she stretched her arms let out a yawn and answered, after all not many people knew her phone number and if they were calling at this hour it must be urgent.

"Yes?" she asked warily.

"Ms. Ashford I'm sorry to disturb you but we require your assistance"

Milly bit her lip, if Sayoko was calling that could only mean one thing, Lelouch and Nunnally.

"What happened where is Lelouch?" she asked quickly, she heard a sigh from the other end of the phone.

"Right now he is bleeding all over the sofa, I need medical equipment to extract wood from one of his wounds and it appears I have run out of alcohol as well" Sayoko explained.

"WHAT?!" Milly yelled in surprise.

"Please Miss. Ashford he is stabilized for now but I don't know for how long he will stay like that" Sayoko urged her.

Milly groaned "Hang on I will be right there" she hung up and quickly grabbed her coat to cover her purple sleeping gown and ran towards the infirmary. She used the master key that her grandfather gave to her and grabbed all the things Sayoko had requested.

As she made her way to Lelouch's house, she felt a sense of dread fill her, from what Sayoko described Lelouch was bleeding very badly.

And to be perfectly honest she couldn't live without her best friend and crush, she had been enamored with him since the moment they met at the Aries Villa.

She had been overjoyed when she found him at her door during the invasion of Japan, so much so that she had cried as she hugged him and refused to leave his side for the entire day.

Milly arrived and kicked the door open, startling Sayoko on the process.

"Sorry my hands are full" she said quickly as she set on the table the stuff she had brought.

"Do not apologize Miss. Ashford, I share your worries" she let out a sigh as she took out the bistoury and morphine from the table.

Milly rushed to the sofa to check on her friend, he was only in his underwear and his face was contorted in pain. Milly frowned at the state he was in, granted she would have loved to see him in his underwear any other day (and then tease him to death) but right now he looked so pale, fragile and tired that it reminded Milly of the state he was in when she found him after the invation.

"Master Lelouch has always been strong, never have I seen him waver at any obstacle or predicament that came his way" Sayoko said out of nowhere as she injected Lelouch with the morphine.

"But I fear that maybe this time he has decided to mess with something far out of his league, I of course won't tell him that, whatever path he decides to take I will assist him along the way in any way I can"

Milly said nothing as she watched the maid extract the pieces of debris from her best friend.

"But maybe you can" she said as she removed a very large piece of wood from his leg.

Milly stared at her in confusion "What do you mean?"

"The master may not show it but he has a great deal of affection for the student council, especially you. All that I ask of you is to at least ask him to refrain from taking any more rash actions" the maid said as she finished closing the last wound.

Lelouch looked better now he was no longer bleeding, but all the blood he had lost made him look a very unhealthy pale.

Sayoko wiped the sweat out of her forehead and turned to Milly

"There all done, he will probably regain conscious in the morning, I will go check on Nunnally the poor dear was extremely worried about her brother and had lots of trouble going to bed, I hope she has not been woken up by all this noise, if you would like to stay for the night there's a blanket in the closet behind you"

And with that the maid disappeared into the shadows.

Milly blinked in surprise "Oh right, I forgot she could do that" she said to no one in particular.

Besides her Lelouch groaned, the morphine was wearing off. He started to toss and turn.

"Shh, it's all right I'm here" Milly said as she tried to soothe her friend, she said as she grabbed his hand.

He stopped tossing but he was still muttering and sweating like crazy.

Milly looked at him sadly, Lelouch had gone through a lot in his life, why did he had to keep suffering like this.

Suddenly Lelouch sat upright causing Milly to gasp and trip on her own feet.

She groaned in annoyance, how rude of him she thought, she turned towards him and to her surprise he had his hand on his eyes and he was breathing erratically.

"Damn it… not again…" Lelouch said as he shook his head, those dammed visions again.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and he jumped in fright, but he immediately regretted it.

"Lulu are you okay?!" a concerned Milly asked him.

Lelouch groaned "Not so good as you can see" he said trough gritted teeth.

Milly looked downcast "Sorry"

Lelouch let out a sigh "its fine it wasn't your fault, don't blame yourself about it"

Milly stared at him "then who was it?"

"I was out when the whole Zero thing started and got caught in the whole mess, some rioters decided it would send Britannia a message and beat the crap out of me, someone found me and brought me here" Lelouch smoothly lied.

"Huh, that's weird there were no reported riots" Milly said.

Lelouch frowned and Milly grinned at him.

"Thought you could lie to me huh?" she said with an evil grin, Lelouch stared at her and had the idea to use his Geass on her but decided against it. Damn this visions causing more paranoia.

"So are you going to tell me the truth or are you just going to pretend I don't exist?"

"You're smarter than what you let on Milly" the black prince said at last.

"It's funnier to play the fool" the blonde shrugged.

"I'll tell you…tomorrow" he said at last causing Milly to snort

"Even if you think of a better lie I will not fall for it" she told him as she crossed her arms.

"I know that…" Lelouch said frustrated

"So, you will tell me the truth tomorrow?" she said after some awkward silence.

Lelouch nodded "I'll even show you proof" Milly looked at him curiously but at the nodded.

"Fine I'll leave the topic alone for now"

"Good" he replied as he tried to settle down once more.

"Is the couch comfortable" Milly asked as she watched his friend frown once he was laying on the sofa.

"In all honesty no, but it will do for tonight" Lelouch said as he tried to find a comfortable position in the couch.

Milly nodded and gave him a hug before she turned around.

"Well that was fun, I better get back to bed today has been tiring to say the least" she turned to glare at him "And don't think I'll forget about you Lelouch I like to keep secrets cause I look cool Lamperouge"

With one last wink she disappeared leaving Lelouch alone once more.

He cursed, but slowly a smile creeped its way into his face.

"Damn you Milly I will never underestimate again" he said to no one in particular

"But I think I can spin this to my advantage" he said as he looked down on his wounds, if he had learned something today was that if he was to uncover the secret surrounding this artifact he would have to search all around the world for it.

But he still needed to remain here in order to liberate Japan.

He thought about it for a moment before an idea struck

"The Ashfords" he exclaimed "I can use them as a front, they may not have the tittle of nobility anymore but they're still respected among the populace of Britannia. I can form a branch of the Ashford industries that is dedicated to research the unknown, while in reality they will be searching for the artifact" Lelouch smirked, yes that sounded like a nice plan, but still he needed Ruben's and Milly's approval.

He had no issue telling Milly about the artifact and how dangerous it might be for their world, but Ruben was another story.

He trusted the man but he was still unsure if he could keep this thing a secret and heaven forbid if Milly's parents ever got a hold of the information.

They would try to use it as a mean to get back in the emperor's good graces, like the parasites they were.

He at last found a comfortable position and started to close his eyes "I'll tell Milly tomorrow right now I need to rest… I just hope those dammed visions stop" he grumbled.

The vision he had when he woke up had been extremely bizarre to put it lightly….

 _Flashback:_

 _Lelouch woke up in the middle of a field, he stood up and saw that it extended beyond what his eyes could see. He heard a blood curling scream and to his surprise his feet moved towards the screaming. As he got closer to the source more and more screams started to join the first one. Their volume increasing as he got closer._

 _He ran up a hill and when he reached the top his eyes widened in shock._

 _Bellow him thousands of people where burning and screaming as their town collapsed into ashes, the fire was unlike anything that Lelouch had ever seen. It was powerful it only needed to scratch something to turn it into ashes._

 _And at the center of it all he saw two giants hugging and dancing around._

 _Lelouch gasped, the fire originated from them!_

" _BASTARDS!" he felt himself yell, but that was not his voice nor had he tried to say anything_

" _I swear, that one day I will obliterate you all!" he screamed into the heavens as the destruction continued down below. And the suddenly one of the flames hit the hill he was on. Sending into the fiery inferno bellow._

 _Lelouch woke up at that moment_

 _Flashback end._

 **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω Ω Ω** **Ω Ω**

"P-please… you have…you have to wait for Mr. Luthor!" a nervous technician said as the clown prince of crime approached the machine.

"Oh but Lex is so boring, as soon as he arrives I can bet you he's going to start talking about what I'm supposed to do and honestly I'm not up for all that rubbish right now" the Joker said as he grabbed the man by the collar.

"P-please…"he started but was silenced when the Joker brought a finger to his lips.

"Shh, don't talk you're wounded and probably won't live" he said with a large grin.

The man gasped and looked at his body but found nothing wrong with himself.

"I-I don't get it" he said at last in confusion.

"The best joke, is the one you don't see coming…" the Joker said and threw a knife at his throat, making the man cough his own blood and he fell to the floor, quickly creating a pool of his own blood around his own body.

"You… you monster, he had a family!" a nearby witness yelled at him.

"Why does no one complain about all the single people I've killed, I'm pretty sure they were a lot more, JAJAAJAJA" he said as he broke into another fit of hysterics.

"Must you make a mess every time you and I make some sort of arrangement" Luthor said in disgust as he signaled someone from his men to take the body away.

The Joker simply smiled at him.

Luthor shook his head "no matter, I'm pretty sure you already know what you have to do so ill spare you the details, I expect perfection Joker, I hope you won't disappoint?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Lex please, you wound my pride…chaos is my specialty" he said with feral grin.

Lex nodded and signaled his men to start the machine "Harley and your goons are expecting your arrival and I've send the things you asked for"

The Joker simply laughed and made his way to the platform, when the teleportation device activated around him he started to think what would be his first move.

After all he wanted to leave a very… lasting impression on this new world before he returned home.

 **A/N: And done, filler episode is finally done. Sorry it took so long but I couldn't decide how to deal with the whole Lelouch is seriously injured thing, but I hope I picked the correct path. And regarding Milly I just really love her character, wish she had been included more but meh what can I do.**

 **No, she won't be the main romantic interest, right now I'm testing the waters with most of the girls (see Kallen in the last two chapters) and from the feedback I get from you guys I will decide later on.**

 **Well that's all for today, I'll see you in the next chapter!**

 **Ps. Special chocolate cookie to however deciphers who was the person in Lelouch's vison.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 7**

 **Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success- Henry Ford**

Capital City of Britannia, Pendragon:

Charles Zi Britannia stared hatefully at the deceased corpse of one of the members of the Geass Order.

Yet another pawn that had been wiped off the table, an easily replaceable one but still it was bothersome, he now had to re write the memory of a Britannian soldier and make him believe that he had worked all his life for V.V.

Speaking of the little bastard, he had just left.

He said that he had some important matters to attend to, something about space and time.

The Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire retreated letting the disposal of the corpse to his loyal followers.

The imposing man made his way to his study, well his family study.

Most of the past emperors had been here at one point in their lives when they had time on their hands, his father (curse his soul) had wanted to destroy the place, but before he got the chance, Charles had killed him. He smiled at the memory and thank goodness he got to that old man when he did because as soon as he ascended to the throne he realized all the potential this room had.

Knowledge.

The most powerful thing in his eyes and this room had knowledge V.V. could not even imagine to get his paws on.

Charles grabbed a book from the table, he had been reading this title for quite a while and it had quickly became one of his favorites.

It was the story of one of his ancestors, one of the most warmongering to be precise.

Radec Von Britannia, the conqueror.

He had conquered most of South America and made them a part of the holy Britannian Empire, but he had also kept a record of the bizarre things he found in his journeys.

He had apparently met C.C. at some point but, it was apparently brief because he had shot her in the face and then left.

He had written many passages on immortality and Geass and how to steal a code, Radec apparently had no desire in immortality wanting to die in battle (which he did), but one chapter in particular caught his attention.

"I've been having this vision for some time now, I see a world covered in flames, giant monsters roaming around and people being tortured and slaved as far as the eye could see, millions upon millions perishing and a top of it all a god stood, watching with indifference at the suffering below him, only to turn his gaze towards me, he levitated off the ground and stared at me he said that he was coming for me and my world, then his blazed red and shot me in the arm, the I woke up covered in cold sweat, to my surprise the wound was there! My arm appeared to have been burned by a mighty torch and a strange symbol was on my arm" Radec drew the symbol on the next page of his book right before his death.

His death had been the most gruesome death an emperor had suffered, Radec returned from another battle only to be ambushed by some rebels. He had been shot many times and stabbed multiple times. His army defeated the enemy but when returned to the place where their emperor had fallen his body was gone.

There was not even trace that he had been there and to this day was one of the empire's longest mysteries.

Charles would have normally not paid mind to this particular story if not for the symbol that his ancestor had drawn:

 **Ω**

The symbol had appeared on the sword of Alaska a while ago, at first he had dismissed it but now... it held some new relevance.

But right now he had more pressing matters to attend to like preparing a speech for his son's funeral. Charles had already spoken with Clovis about his demise and apparently it was Lelouch who had killed him. Charles smirked evilly, he really liked how Lelouch was progressing and if what Marianne was saying is true then he has gained some powerful allies. Too bad he also had some cards to deal as well.

Now how does "All men are not created equal" sounds like for an opening?

* * *

" _Stop this is foolishness brother, come back at once!" a voice cried at the distance but he kept running._

 _Lelouch was once more stuck in this vision, it was the same world he had been yesterday. He could see the corpses of the thousands of peoples that died by the flames, smoke still rising from the houses._

 _After a long time of running he arrived at a cave, Lelouch let out a gasp._

 _One of the giants from yesterday! They had destroyed the town just from being near them! Luckily they were asleep right now._

 _Lelouch felt something moving at his side, so he turned and looked down, to his surprise an arm was holding what looked like to be a large spear._

 _The arm he was seeing was cracked and oozing with blood, so much so that Lelouch could have sworn he saw part of the bone._

 _But he kept moving in direction of the slumbering giant, he climbed on top of him and without a warning drove the spear down on his forehead._

" _For all that you took from me I will hunt every single one of you down and kill you with my bare hands!"_

Lelouch woke up at that moment his head spinning, he breathed and once he had calmed down he forced his body into a sitting position. Oh right he was back home. He would have to thank the League later. With an intense pain he managed to stand up and stumble towards the dining room.

His eyes widened when he saw his angel sitting there, she was silently eating her cereal with a depressed look on her face.

His heart nearly broke in two at the sight of his beloved sister so sad and hurt.

He had hurt her, Lelouch realized, no doubt Sayoko had to tell he was hurt when she asked about him in the morning.

Ignoring the pain of his injuries he walked towards the young cripple.

When she was in range he wrapped both of his arms around her and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"Good Morning Nunnally" he said as he hugged his beloved little sister.

He heard a couple of sobs against his chest before a gasp escaped his tiny frame.

"But Sayoko said you shouldn't move!" she said as she reached forward to touch his face.

Her hands searching for any wound that might have reached his face.

Luckily for him Ra's had been rather busy bragging about his plan that he forgot to kill him. His face had remained mostly intact but his leg and arm where ripped and he was pretty sure he had managed to break a rib.

But that didn't matter right now, not when his little sister needed him.

"Are you going to your classes today?" she asked as she finished her food.

Lelouch smiled "Of course, nothing would stop me from doing so"

"That's good! Milly was worried you might actually fail one this year!" she said with a frown.

Lelouch chuckled "Well we can't let that happen now can we"

"Oh I almost forgot!" Nunnally said "Yesterday someone was here to see you but they left when you didn't come home"

He flinched a little at the last part.

"She had weird name C.C I think, she said you had promised her something"

Lelouch frowned, he didn't know anyone with that name, but he decided it would be best not to worry her sister with that knowledge.

"I'll talk to her late, right now you need to get ready for school" he said as he cleaned the table.

"Where is Sayoko anyway?" he asked, their loyal maid nowhere to be found.

"She said that she had to get something from the medical room for you, she will be back soon" she said with a smile as her brother prepared her for the day ahead.

Lelouch tried his best not to show it but his wounds where killing him. The strain that he put his body on just by simply walking was excruciating.

Once Nunnally was all set and done Sayoko returned.

"Master Lelouch!" she said in surprise "You shouldn't be…"

Lelouch raised a hand indicating that he didn't want his sister to know just how badly he had been injured.

"…doing all of this is my job!" she smoothly lied.

Lelouch grinned and pushed Nunnally in Sayoko's direction.

"I thought it would be nice to do it this once, sort of making up for last night"

"You can make up for it by never doing it again Lelouch" Nunnally said with a huff.

"I promise" he said with a smile.

"Remember that if you lie, you'll have to eat a thousand needles" Nunnally giggled.

"Oh don't worry I won't lie, never to you" it hurt him inside knowing that he was lying in her face, but for her safety he would do it.

For the sake of her peaceful world, he would do it.

"Master Lelouch may I speak to you in private" Sayoko asked breaking the siblings moment.

"Sure Sayoko, come I just need to pick something from my room" Lelouch said as he walked towards his room.

He was about to collapse when Sayoko grabbed him before he could hit the floor.

"You shouldn't even be walking, you'll hurt yourself further" the maid said as she put one of his arms over her shoulders.

"I don't feel so bad, just my left leg hurts and my ribs hurt a lot for some reason" Lelouch said.

Sayoko rolled her eyes "That's because you broke two of them Master Lelouch"

She helped him sit on his bed "will you go to school today Master?"

Lelouch nodded "I have to, I promised Nunnally…and I need to talk to Milly about something"

Sayoko nodded "Miss. Ashford was very worried about you last night, if you insist in going to school today I suggest you use this" she said as she handed him a cane.

Lelouch frowned at it "But that will only draw attention to myself"

"Ah you mean because of the other you, do not worry about Master Lelouch I'm sure that if you play the wounded student here and the confident and act like you weren't even hurt at all, no one could point at you as a suspect"

Lelouch nodded and grabbed the cane on his hand "Well I suppose I better get to it then, no need to prolong it anymore" he said as he used the cane for the first time.

It hurt, but he could manage, resting some of his weight on the cane helped a lot.

Once he exited his house, he made his way to his first class.

"Damn it all to hell, the class I have right now is Britannian History" Lelouch hated the class not only it bored you half to death but it also was almost complete propaganda.

Lelouch slept for most of the class and always managed to wake up a minute before it ended, but now he was sure he wouldn't be able to fall asleep thanks to the ache on his ribs.

Lelouch walked inside the building and immediately felt the eyes of most of the student's heads turn towards him.

Some girls even gasped at the sight at the black prince on a cane, pale face full of bruises and scratches, he ignored them all as he made his way towards his classroom.

Once he entered he spotted Rivalz and made his way towards him.

His friend's eyes widened once he saw him approaching.

"Lelouch what the hell happened to you!" he yelled getting the attention of the entire class.

"I got assaulted on my way home yesterday and my leg was injured" he replied calmly as he took his seat.

Rivalz shook his head "You chose the worst day to go out, yesterday was so messed up!" his friend said.

Lelouch looked to the other side and saw that Kallen was also there and she was eyeing him with suspicion.

'I must contact her as Zero as soon as I can or she might figure something out' Lelouch said to himself.

"LULU!" Shirley yelled as she entered the classroom and ran towards him wrapping her arms around him.

"I was so worried about you, I heard from Milly that you were injured but I didn't think it would be this bad!" she said as she hugged him.

Lelouch groaned in pain "Shirley…ribs…hurts" he managed to breathe out.

Shirley immediately gasped and let go of him "I'm so sorry I don't know what came over me…" she started apologizing her face doing an amazing interpretation of a tomato.

Lelouch held up his hand to silence her "its fine, I'm happy that you worry about me" he said.

In all honesty he could never remain mad at Shirley for long, he had a soft spot for her, but all his thoughts left the door once he saw someone enter the room.

"Hello my name is Suzaku and I will be attending this school"

* * *

Cornelia scowled at the scene before her, very few things made her cringe in disgust but the scene before her had shook her very soul.

She had been hunting Area 11 terrorist since she arrived, so when she encountered a base with no defenses she suspected an ambush not… this.

All the terrorist from the base where dead. Some had died with a look of horror, something common on a war.

But the thing that frightened her was that some of this people had died with a large smile on their faces, they had suffocated that much was obvious, the blood that oozed from their nose and the tears that were still present in their eyes.

What a horrible way to go.

"Should we leave your highness" her knight Guilford asked.

Cornelia shook her head "Negative, we need to know what happened here, this was no terrorist" she said as she moved deeper into the facility.

Some men appeared to be shot while others had been torn in half. The doors had been ripped open, and in the walls she could see large scratches like if a giant beast had attacked the base.

She arrived at the main hall and she found that they were even more dead people there, but this people had been brutally gutted. Their blood and organs splattered all over the room.

With a shudder, she approached the center where a computer was.

Cornelia glared at it, someone had left a message for the authorities or for whoever got here first.

Thank goodness she arrived here first, she would lock down and ensure this information never saw the light of day.

The public would handle this badly.

With a tentative hand she reached forward and pressed play.

At first nothing happened but soon the screen came to life, a man dressed in a formal purple suit stood in the middle of the room, his green eyes shining in the dark room.

"Hellooooo there and good afternoon" the maniac said in a loud voice.

"If you're seeing this congratulations you escaped the carnage that happened here or you are some boring anti-terrorist official" he grinned as he approached the camera "And if you are except a visit from me soon" he giggled as he turned to an unseen person off camera and snapped his fingers "I'll be brief, the important thing is sending a message" and soon a hulking man brought forward a tied up Japanese rebel.

"Hello there what's your name?"

"Rot in hell you piece of…" to Cornelia's surprise the man shot him in the leg and started to kick him repeatedly as he laughed manically.

"HAHA, we got ourselves a comedian but not to be rude or anything but" he threw a knife at his arm "I'M THE COMEDIAN HERE!" he yelled absolutely furious.

"Well now that's done, let me introduce myself I'm the Joker" he smiled making Cornelia shiver a little.

"And if you can't tell by the little demonstration I did on these filthy terrorist I'm not someone who likes clowning around, pfft heheh HAHAHAA" he broke into another insane fit of laughter.

"And soon I will unleash upon this little island you people call home your worst nightmare and I don't mean those cheap looking robots you people have, UGH, those make want to GAG every time I see them all flash and no class, no what I plan to unleash on this Japan, Area 11 whatever the hell you people call it, is something far more monstrous, hehehe" he reached into his jacket and brought out a different gun.

This one was purple like his suit and pointed it at the man that he had injured before, with no warning the Joker shot him straight in the chest.

For a moment nothing happened before his entire body started to convulse and twist, his arm grew tearing the skin leaving the bones and muscle visible as he grew he started to look less like a man and more like a beast.

His teeth grew tearing his mouth almost in half and his skull grew horns.

Soon the man had died and the only thing that remained was the beast that was dripping blood and emitted an eerie green glow.

"I think actions speak more than words, I will put this in simple words, what I want is to create chaos and with my TITAN formula which I totally stole, I will set this city on fire and remember…" he got close to the camera and smiled "I'm a man of my word, HAHAAHA" the video the faded to black.

Cornelia stood there stunned for a long moment.

Guilford was lost for words.

"Guilford"

He snapped out of his trance "Yes my lady"

"Track down this son of a bitch and when you find him I will kill him myself and all of his damn monsters!" the furious princess yelled as she stormed out of that godforsaken place, her thoughts immediately turned to Euphie.

She would protect her little sister no matter what, she won't lose another sibling to this damn country!

Unknowns to Cornelia the Joker had been observing from a camera he had planted "OooHUHU it's not Zero but I suppose is a start, I'll scare the crap out off Miss Serious and the move to Zero" he reclined in his seat "I wonder how much would it take to get him out of hiding, HEHE, some hostage kidnaping is order HAHAHA!"

 **A/N: And cut, sorry about the long wait I had so much to do in the last few months that I couldn't find the free time to write the story, I hope the chapter doesn't feel too rushed or something.**

 **No Justice League this chapter, sorry this one is mostly setting stuff up so that when it happens it doesn't feel to out of nowhere or forced (thank you JumpingToaster for telling me) and if you guys want to correct me something feel free to do it, I become a better writer thanks to it.**

 **Oh Joker, you're such a blast to write I can't wait to reach the Hotel and have him fight Batman and Zero.**

 **That's all for today, I'll see you in the next update!**

 **Au-revoir!**

 **Ps. Sorry about the re-upload, fixed some grammar errors.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 8**

 **"The Hotel"**

 **Part 1**

 **"There is just so much hurt, disappointment, and oppression one can take... The line between reason and madness grows thinner"- Rosa Parks**

* * *

If you told a Britannian that a murder had been committed in the now abandoned cities of Area Eleven, they would have scoffed and said something along the lines of "How unusual for those barbarians" every single word layered to the brim with sarcasm.

On the other hand if you told the same thing to a Japanese Rebel they would say "Better him than me, should have watched his back" and move on with whatever activity they were doing.

That's why no one wanted to help the half dead man that was in the debris of one of the many destroyed buildings.

Most normal people knew that getting close to that guy was trouble, you could either get accused of being a Rebel or trying to steal whatever the poor soul had before he died.

But Bruce Wayne was no ordinary man, after all he dressed like a giant bat to beat the pulp out of every criminal he could find, so that's the reason why the Batman was inspecting the dying man in the middle of a destroyed building.

Bruce frowned, he couldn't save him he had lost too much blood and he had a giant piece of metal that he couldn't identify stuck in his stomach.

He let out a sigh as the man drew his last breath, Bruce closed the man's eyes and stared at it, another one?

Another Japanese rebel had been murdered and left to rot in a place everyone could see it.

Granted this was not so uncommon but what had caught the detective's attention was the way they had left the corpses.

White paint smeared across their faces, red lipstick in their lips and in their chest they had carved the words "Rebel Clown".

If it had been just one body then Bruce would have ignored it and moved on with his investigations, but when another one showed up he started to become suspicious.

And then another one showed up… and then another one and then many more.

Batman had identified more than twenty bodies in the last month, all of them from the same Japanese rebel cell.

He didn't like this, it was all too familiar and if HE was here then that meant someone had sent him after the league.

Bruce cursed, he had decided to stay behind in Area Eleven while Wonder Woman and Superman explored the E.U. in search of the artifact.

Now he was alone with only Zero to rely on and Zero was barely recovering.

The exiled prince had proved to be a very capable ally and provided help in any way he could, but his process of recovery had led to slow progress and his group was growing restless.

That's why he would show them their new base today, or that was Bruce had gathered from the brief call he got, Lelouch was worried about Viceroy Cornelia, he had managed to get info that she was spreading her forces across the entire Area to find someone.

Someone who had the entire military scared was a bad sign and with this, Bruce knew he needed to be extremely cautious.

But now he needed to check the corpse on last time to see if there were more clues about…

Did it just move?

His reflexes kicked in and he jumped away from the corpse, as it started to twitch.

Batman frowned as the body started to grown in size, the muscles destroying the skin around it, leaving it exposed to the air, the piece of metal turned out to be a type of tv-screen that had been shoved into the man's body.

Batman glared, he knew what this monster was, he had fought them in the past, but he couldn't believe that HE managed to get his hands on the formula again.

As the screen came to life, the dark knight was greeted to the image of the clown Prince of Chaos grinning from ear to ear.

"Hello there dork knight, missed me?" he said as he batted his eyelashes, Batman simply glared.

"Tch you're always a very tuff audience, but that doesn't matter because today I'm not playing with you, tonight I make my big debut in this universe and I have to say this is my finest work yet… well kinda I still think that beating your Robin into a pulp was the best thing I have done, JEJE"

Batman clenched his fist, he would not let this maniac get under his skin.

"Where did you get the TITAN formula Joker?"

The Joker stared at him with a grin "Why I had a mutual friend of ours make it for me, the good old Doctor Scarecrow had saved some from our last…" the Joker was interrupted by the sound of someone with a gag.

The Joker glared at the sound and went off-camera for a second before he returned with a very beaten up man.

"Sorry bats it appears the tranquilizer that we hit him as already run out, it didn't pack quite the PUNCH for the job" and with that he hit the man with all his strength knocking him out.

"JAJAJAJAJA oh man that one never fails to make me laugh, and in case you're wandering that was a general from the Japanese Rebellion Front or some stupid name like that, he had this big plan to take over some Hotel or something to prove that the Japanese were still alive and kicking yidi yada you know boring stuff" The Joker said as he waved his hand.

"So what I decided to do was take over his plan, pump it full of my genius and make this into one hell of a party, so with the TITAN formula in my hands and the few bombs I have planted in the city"

Batman's eyes widened behind the cowl.

"I will make sure this people will have something to talk about other than their boring talk about war"

Bruce stared at the Titan, he was dead so he could be lethal against it, the only thing that kept the body moving was the TITAN formula.

He would wait for the right moment to strike, the Joker on the other hand looked like he wanted to break out into a song.

"This is just fantastic you know, this world has only begun to tap its true potential, sure they have their wars and stuff but that's and issue of patriotism and racism what I'm about to give them would be a game of idealism and individualism, ooh I can't wait for you to see what I'm about to do, you know I wonder just how far would they go to get what they want, not for a country, not because you hate their class but because you just want to not loose what you care for!"

He threw his head back and laughed at the top of his lungs "It's going to be glorious and when Zero shows up it will be even better! So sorry to cut this short but I have to go, lots of people to torture and buildings to blow up, ciao!" the screen went dead and the Titan screamed in rage as he charged at Batman.

But the Dark Knight was not faced by this, with a fast movement of his wrist he threw an explosive baterang at the creature's leg.

The Titan stopped for a second before his entire right leg exploded, making him fall to the ground.

The creature grabbed onto a boulder and threw it at Batman, who avoided it and decided to end this.

He sprinted towards the downed TITAN and slammed his fist against the creature with all his might.

The TITAN disorientated try to back away but the Dark Knight was faster, he grabbed the creature with both of his hands and twisted its neck, making it snap with a loud CRACK.

The creatures unnatural green glowing eyes turned black and he fell to the ground.

Batman stared at it for a second, brutally and effective, that's not how he usually did things but he needed the time, with the Joker every second counted.

He pressed a button on his glove and dialed Zero's number.

"Zero its Batman, we have a situation"

* * *

Kallen smiled as she walked around their new base, she enjoyed how it looked and because it was Britannian they would go unnoticed by the army and police force.

It was nice knowing that Zero had made arrangements in his absence not letting his injuries stop him.

She frowned, she had feared the worst when he hadn't contacted for a week, she had decided it would be best to go to school after all what happened.

After all, stopping a mad man from bombing the entire world left you a bit tired.

But after she started going back to her classes she noticed something odd going on with her classmates especially with the student council.

The young man that had talked to her to join the club (and watched her naked in the shower but she had decided to erase that memory from her memory ENTIRELY) had walked into the classroom wounded.

He had apparently being assaulted by some low life though, much to her displeasure most people where blaming it on the elevens.

Speaking of elevens a new JAPANESE student had joined their school, Suzaku Kururugi and honorary Britannian who served the army.

Kallen found him annoying as he spat in the face of all what she believed, a Japanese bowing and serving Britannian on their free will?

Blasphemy.

Even though she had to admit not all Britannians where such a piece of crap (like her step mother) she was growing quite fond of the student council.

Some of her classmates and "Friends" said how jealous they were that she was spending so much time with Lelouch.

But with the recent interactions he had been having with Milly she didn't think the enigmatic teen would pursue a relationship with anyone else.

Something had changed with the two of them, they appeared to be closer and Milly constantly looked worried about his physical state.

She shook her head and blushed.

"Why do I care what those two got going on, I'm not like Shirley" she kept walking until she stumbled with her leader.

Zero was looking at the TV, the news to be precise.

She looked at the news and raised an eyebrow at the headliner.

TERRORIST HOLD HOTEL HOSTAGE

She looked at the screen as the events continued to unfold, these guys where rebels that was for sure with the way they acted and moved.

What didn't sit well with her is that they were using some weird masks to hide their faces, clown masks.

The scene changed to one of the hostages being pushed around by the brutes, Kallen almost gasped as she saw her friends in the middle of the crowd.

Milly, Shirley and Nina (who looked like she was having a panic attack) where there!

She turned who Zero who didn't even flinch.

"Those are your friends aren't they Kallen?" he said startling the young woman.

"Yeah… you could say that, they are nice people, they don't deserve what is going to happen to them" she said sadly.

Zero didn't respond but instead moved to a nearby box.

"Here hand these over to your colleagues" he said as he gave her a lot of black uniforms.

Kallen grabbed them and looked at her leader with a confused face.

Zero simply stared at the TV screen once more "Tonight, we make our debut"

Kallen stood there stunned for a moment, processing what he had just said, but then quickly realized what he meant.

Nodding she ran outside the room, with a smile on her face, it looks like they would see some action tonight.

Lelouch on the other hand was terrified under the mask, his friends where there and if what he had just being told by Batman was true then he was dealing with a lot.

His gaze lingered on Milly for a second, he had told her everything, well almost everything.

He had told her about the dimensions and world ending threat, he had decided it would be best if he omitted the Zero part, no need to add a Revolution to her list of worries.

She had raised an eyebrow and asked if he had been feeling ok, so he had to resort to extreme measures, he geassed someone in front of her.

To say she was shocked was understatement.

After the waves of questions that she threw his way, she stood there stunned. He remained by her side until she came to terms with it.

She might act childish and immature but Milly Ashford had a brilliant mind.

She said she would move strings and try to help him in any way she could. Lelouch smiled at the memory it was nice knowing you had someone by your side.

But his smile quickly banished as he looked back at the screen.

He would save his friends no matter what.

* * *

Cornelia was not having a good day, her sister was being held hostage in a hotel, the rebels refused to make contact and the press was driving her nuts.

She was half tempted to fire a couple of rounds into the air to make them all go away but she knew better than that, so she simply send some of her men on crowd control.

She let out as sigh as her knight approached her.

"Report"

"They still refuse to contact us your highness it seems these rebels are not in the mood for negotiation"

"Just what I need, a bunch of Neanderthals who don't even know how to speak, try again remember what's at stake"

"At once your highness"

And with that her knight left her alone once more, she frowned as she looked at the schematics of the building, they had it locked tight, there was no way she could get someone there without the rebels noticing.

Right now her best option was negotiation.

Normally she wouldn't sink to this level, but she was desperate.

Her beloved sister was there.

Her worst fear had come to life, her little sister was alone with people who wouldn't hesitate to hurt her.

If one of those disgusting pigs even dared to touch her.

Cornelia crushed the cup she was holding in her hands, not caring that her hand had been cut, she was no weak person.

But right now they had hit her in her weakest point.

Family.

The one thing she valued most, more than the glory of battle.

She looked at the screen once more.

She would figure out a way to get her out of there.

Just as she was about to check the schematics of the building once more a guard came running in.

She was about to reprimand him when he saluted

"Sorry to bother you General, but the rebels are broadcasting a signal to all mobile devices and television!"

Cornelia's eyes widened and she made her way towards the nearest television.

Static was the only thing she could see for some seconds before the image started to clear.

Cornelia gasped.

"No…"

"Hello Area Eleven, how are you doing in this fine evening, I wouldn't change the channel if I were you I know how sad it is to get your favorite show cancelled but look at what you get instead… ME and a whole lot of violence, murder and explosions! Everything that makes TV great, so stay tuned because you won't believe your eyes JAJAJAJAAJAJA"

Cornelia wanted to scream to punch something to cry as she stared at the man in the purple suit and the sick smile.

Why tonight of all nights.

Why did this had to happen to her and her family?

"So you see, as you guys might have guessed I am the one inside the Hotel, but that's not all, originally this plan was made by the Japanese, elevens, whatever you want to call them, but it was just SOOO BORING! They wanted to blow this place just to prove they were still alive and kicking, something stupid if you ask me but with a few changes here and there, Uncle Joker is going to give you one hell of a spectacle! I'll stop beating around the bush, because one thing that I hate in life is stale jokes, right now there are many bombs planted all over this island, mostly in important sectors"

The Joker smiled.

Cornelia stared at the screen not believing her ears.

"I see why it would be hard to believe so, I'll give you this one for free let's switch to our eyes in the sky"

The image changed to one of a girl in dressed in what Cornelia could only describe as a "clown girl costume"

"Of course pudding, we are at the capital of the area, the viceroy's palace not too far away, our victim for the day is this massive building here"

The camera zoomed in on it.

The Joker returned to the screen with a detonator in hand.

"Now take a good look Area Eleven for this is real chaos"

The screen changed back to the building, at first nothing happened, making everybody watching the broadcast tense in anticipation.

When suddenly the building blew up.

Cornelia smashed her fist against the wall next to her.

"JAJAJAJA it's like Christmas all over again, don't worry that was a building in construction no one died… I think… I mean if someone was standing close to it they're pretty much mush right now…BUT THE POINT IS THAT I CAN DO WORSE AND I WILL DO WORSE IF I EVEN SEE A SOLDIER CLOSE TO THE HOTEL!"

This sudden outburst caused Cornelia to flinch.

"You might be wondering what I hope to get from all of this… I want Zero"

Cornelia raised an eyebrow.

"Every ten minutes that he doesn't shows up I do this..."

The Joker snapped his fingers.

The camera changed to one a top of the Hotel where a terrified hostage was.

"Wait please…"

The joker's thug didn't listen to him and kicked him off the ledge.

Cornelia closed her eyes and let out a sigh.

This was just getting worse and worse.

"So Zero or people die and no soldiers or building blow up, cool? Cool I'll keep you all people updated and up to date with the events that transpire here because jeje you really don't want to miss this"

And with that the TV turned to static once more.

Cornelia stared at it before she turned around and moved towards her knight who had entered the room not so long ago.

"Search for the bombs I want every important building and landmark searched, skyscrapers, coffee shops even schools, Guilford you will lead the search I'll stay here, if something out of ordinary comes up call me immediately"

Guilford nodded "At once your highness, what about Zero?"

"If he shows up we'll use him as a distraction to save the hostages, what about the tunnel?"

"Guarded with a bizarre type of weapon, your brother's science division has offered help"

"With the eleven pilot? To hell with them, we'll use them as a last resort"

And with that Guilford went to carry out his orders.

Cornelia stared at the building.

"I just hope you're safe Euphemia"

* * *

Nina was shivering from head to toe as the guards in the room mumbled something under their breath, they were elevens she was sure of that.

They would be the only ones sick enough to do something like this, to capture and held people hostage was something only those barbarians would do.

When one passed right next to her she couldn't help but to whisper.

"E-Eleven!"

"Huh? What did you just call me?!"

"Eleven…"

She repeated once more, more out of shock that he had heard her.

Milly and Shirley looked at each other worriedly.

Did Nina really just said that? Didn't she know that could make them mad?

Just as Shirley was about to step in the guard let out a chuckle.

"Oh you think I'm one of them"

He lowered his mask and to everybody's surprise it was a young man that looked Britannian.

"I'm no Japanese, I do this because the boss told me to and I get to have Fun with people like you…"

He gripped Nina's chin making the poor girl stare at him.

"You're lucky the boss told us to not touch anyone"

He let out a small smile as he grabbed her hand arm painfully making Nina gasp

"But I don't think he would care if a stupid girl disappeared…"

"STOP THIS INSTANT!"

The thug narrowed his eyes and turned towards the one who had interrupted him. He raised an eyebrow, a pink haired girl was glaring at him an air of authority around her.

"I am Euphemia Li Britannia third princes of the Holy Britannian Empire and I demand that you take me to your superior this instant! I won't allow this madness to spread any longer!"

Many of the people present gasped.

"The princess!"

"What's she doing here!?"

The thug stared at her for a second before taking out his cell phone

"Get me the boss, apparently one of the Royal Family is here… no I'm not pulling you hair, everyone knows that you do not joke around with the boss, do you want to end up being food for his hyenas? That's what I though, tell him I'm bringing her to him right now, over"

And with that he pointed with his weapon at her.

"All right Miss Hero come with me quietly and none of this people get hurt… for now"

Euphemia gave a shaky nod, while her assistant tried to accompany her.

A shot was fired her way only missing the assistant by a couple of inches.

"Only her highness"

The thug said while he held her gun at the assistant.

Euphemia looked at her pleadingly.

The assistant looked hesitant for a moment before she let out a sigh and returned to where she had been siting.

Euphemia made her way towards the guard her stoic expression still in her face.

The guard simply snorted and opened the door.

"No funny business and you lot"

He said as he pointed towards the rest of them.

"Don't even think about escaping, just because I'm leaving doesn't mean you aren't being guarded, there are five guards outside armed to the teeth and they have orders to kill everything in this room if anyone even sneezes GOT IT?!"

Some people nodded.

"Good, move blue blood"

And with that they both disappeared.

Milly and Shirley let out a sigh of relief.

"That was too close, you're lucky that he wasn't Japanese Nina… Nina?"

Nina was staring at the door with an unreadable expression.

"Princess Euphemia…"

Shirley didn't get it but Milly did.

If they weren't in such a bad situation she would heave teased the hell out of Nina, but there were times for that stuff and right now wasn't one of them.

"Does anyone here have a phone?"

She asked in a hushed whisper.

"It's no use I already tried but the signal has been cut off I can't contact anyone, not even the police" one man said sadly.

Milly extended her hand.

"No matter I know how to contact someone outside the system, give me the phone now"

The man gave it to her, hoping the girl would get through the blockade.

Shirley stared at her friend in confusion "are you going to call your grandfather?"

Milly shook her head "He can't do much, the only thing I would get from calling him is giving him a heart attack"

"Then who?"

Milly smiled and got closer to her.

"Your prince in shiny armor of course" she whispered into her hear, causing Shirley to blush and Milly to giggle.

She dialed the number that he had given to her, not to anyone else.

Milly bit her lip as she looked at Shirley who still had pink in her cheeks and wondered if it was fair to have feelings for someone who your friend had feelings for as well.

She shook her head and returned to the task at hand, pointless drama could wait, right now she and the people in this building needed to be saved from these criminals.

"Lulu it's me"

* * *

Kallen looked at her comrades as they approached the Hotel, most of them were deadly quiet, while others looked at their leader with an air of confusion.

Why were they getting involved in saving some stupid Britannians from a mad man?

It made no sense to them.

Tamaki had been quite vocal about it, but thankfully he was keeping mostly to himself.

Kallen on the other hand got why they were doing this.

The incident with Ra's Al Ghul had taught her something.

Zero would step up to defend those who couldn't protect themselves, save the world from people who just wanted to destroy it.

He dreamed of a world when they were no longer divided by race or countries.

And now she was starting to share that dream.

She wondered how he looked under the mask, was he Japanese?

Was he from the EU? Chinese?

Was he handsome?

She blushed a little a she looked at the mysterious figure that was her leader. Kallen wondered if he would ever trust her enough to look under the mask.

"Nothing will change if you just keep staring at him" a voice said behind Kallen making her jump in fear and the others to point their weapons at him.

Batman stood in the middle of the room.

How he got inside a moving armored vehicle was a mystery to everyone.

Kallen glared at him, her cheeks matching her hair.

"HOW DID YOU…"

"At ease everyone, he's with us" Zero said not bothering to look back at them, he was on the phone with someone from the looks of it.

They slowly began to lower their weapons.

Except Tamaki who still had his weapon pointed at Batman.

"Why on earth would we work with a freak dressed up as bat?!" he yelled.

Batman didn't respond and made his way towards Zero.

"The bombs are going to be tricky to find, Superman and Wonder Woman are already on it but the Knightmares of the Army will slow them down and knowing the Joker he probably has something else up his sleeve.

Zero nodded.

"I just talked with someone inside the building, the hostages are fine but they have taken Princess Euphemia as a hostage… they're taking her to the Joker"

Batman frowned.

"Then we better get there fast, he will probably kill her in live TV if don't hurry up"

"And why should we give rat's ass about what happens to a princess of the empire that destroyed our country HUH?!"

Tamaki yelled, some people started to mumble agreeing with their hot headed comrade.

"What have they done for us…? NOTHING! They have only put their boots to our throats and watched us suffer with amusement!"

Zero stared at Tamaki for a second before responding.

"This world bleeds Tamaki and most of it is innocent blood, blood of mothers who died protecting their children, blood of the many who didn't asked to be brought into the battle, blood of children who will never see or walk again, their blood screams, but they do not yell out in vengeance they scream for justice not all is black and white, both sides have blame on their shoulders and to make sure justice is served I will fight for the innocent no matter who they are ore were they come from"

Zero then turned to the screen once more, not caring that he had stunned all of his subordinates to the very core.

Batman raised an eyebrow but didn't comment, he had given some impressive speeches every once in a while when he got to passionate about a topic, but most of the time he had said it as Bruce Wayne.

"With the connection my contact opened I was able to hack into the Hotel's system, I think I see where the Joker is, this part right here"

Zero pointed at the upper part of the hotel.

"It's using almost all of the buildings energy and if what I was told is true then that's where Princess Euphemia is heading to"

Batman nodded and looked at Zero.

"Get your militia to save the hostages, you and me head for the Joker"

Zero nodded and looked back his team.

"Tonight we make a stand against madness and tyranny and we will show the world who the BLACK KNIGHTS are!"

Kallen cheered along with her friends.

She felt happy and she almost shed a tear when Zero gave his big speech a couple of seconds ago.

Yes her brother asked for Justice and she will gladly follow the side of Justice till the very end.

* * *

"I always found it quite peculiar that Earth on other dimensions is not visited by aliens as much as our earth is" Superman commented as they approached another building with a bomb on it.

They had been doing these for the past hour, moving from building to building to defuse the bombs (AKA Superman threw them into space).

"They're lucky, imagine what might have happened to this world if Brainiac showed up" The amazon beauty replied.

"Well sadly with no green lantern assigned to this area we have no clue what Darkseid might be looking for" Superman said sadly.

"You're quite right Clark but we will discuss this later, I would regret deeply if this place where to be destroyed"

Ashford Academy was deserted most people were at their dorms at this hour, some were still in the garden discussing what was happening on the hotel.

"So this clown showed up and blew up a building, man it felt like I was reading a comic book but then they cut the signal, I guess they don't want to let us young people see what's going to happen"

"I wouldn't want to look at that it's scary" a girl said shivering.

Superman and Wonder Woman tried to go unnoticed by the residents of the academy, only some watched them.

But luckily for them they didn't question their presence.

"Dude look at her rack!"

"Her rack?! Look at her legs!"

"Stupid teenagers" Wonder Woman mumbled under her breath, making Superman chuckle.

After walking for a bit they arrived at a basement where the bomb was.

Diana raised an eyebrow.

It was in the middle of the room, not one guard or Knightmare on sight.

"Feels like a trap" Diana said to her friend, who looked around the room.

"I know you're there, can't hide from my X-Ray vision" Superman said as he crossed his arms.

A skinny man walked out of a crate.

"Finally I thought that you would never come"

Wonder Woman glared at him.

"Give up and we won't hurt you" she said.

"No, sorry I can't do that, the boss said he wanted you entertained and that's what I'm going to do" the skinny man said as he brought out a needle from his pockets, not wasting any time he proceeded to inject it into himself.

Diana prepared her lasso and Superman cracked his knuckles.

The TITAN formula had worked its magic and now instead of a skinny man stood a hulking monster.

His mouth had deformed to the point that it looked more like a snout, huge teeth destroyed the lower and upper part of his mouth.

Blood was dripping from his mouth and he let out and animalistic growl.

"Why do Bruce's villains always have to be so extra with everything they do, Luthor would have just used some machine guns" Superman said as he looked at the beast who was running towards them.

Superman took him head on, surprised at the strength the beast possessed.

He made him stumble back with a right hook.

"Clark do you hear that?"

"An engine?"

Three Knightmares busted the wall open.

"Hands on the air now!" the soldier inside the Knightmare yelled, Wonder Woman stared at them before turning her attention to Superman, who shrugged.

"They are an evil empire" he stated before he started to levitate in front of the Knightmare.

"What the…"

"Look, stand down, or I will have to break your little toy"

Villeta looked at her leader expectantly, Jeremiah was no fool, no matter what people were talking about because of the orange incident she knew he would make the right decision.

"There's a bomb here I won't let you endanger the lives of children!" Jeremiah yelled as he prepared to attack the bizarre man before him.

"We're not the enemies!" a woman dressed in questionable outfit said.

"He is" she said pointing towards the hulking beast that was recovering from the blow that Superman had landed on him.

He roared and ran towards the closest Knightmare tearing it to pieces with its massive fist and claws.

"What is that thing!?" Villeta yelled in confusion as she fired at the monster who didn't look faced by the bullets that were practically bouncing off his skin.

"Villeta record this and send it to headquarters the Viceroy needs to see this!" Jeremiah ordered as he fired at the beast who was now focused on the Knightmares.

He grabbed one of the Knightmares arm and teared it off without a second thought.

"Impossible!" Jeremiah yelled not believing his eyes, this beast just ripped one of his Knightmare's arms like it was rotten wood.

Superman looked at Wonder Woman who nodded and took out her sword.

She ran towards it and crippled the beast by slashing the beast in the leg.

The beast roared in pain while Superman delivered a massive blow to the beast making it stumble back.

Seeing an opening Wonder Woman jumped with her lasso grabbed him by the neck bringing the beast to its knees.

Superman stood still for a moment before he moved so fast he created a sonic boom shattering all the windows in the near vicinity, his punch shattered the beast jaw and teeth.

It fell to the ground unconscious barely breathing.

"Superman the bomb!"

He nodded and grabbed it.

"I'll meet you at the next location" he said before he grabbed the bomb and blasted off into the night.

Wonder Woman rolled her eyes as the two remaining Knightmares approached her.

"Are you going to order me to surrender?" she asked in a sarcastic tone.

"What are you?"

"To put it simply a descendant of the gods" and with that she punched the Knightmare's leg with all her strength shattering it, making it fall to the ground.

The other one didn't fare any better, because she took out her sword once more, she jumped into the air and decapitated the mechanical beast.

"That was a warning don't let me see you again tonight" and with that the Amazon beauty walked away.

"Villeta…"

"Yes lord Jeremiah, I have recorded it all, the viceroy must see this"

* * *

When Cornelia hear that Zero was approaching the blockade she had ordered her troops to make, she let out a sigh of relief.

That was fast.

She was half expecting him to show up after more people died, but apparently even he got just how dire the situation was.

"Keep your weapons on him at all times!"

"Yes your highness!"

She glared as she saw the masked figure, she exited her Knightmare and looked him up and down.

"You're shorter than I expected"

"Good evening to you too Viceroy"

Cornelia shrugged "Sorry I forget my manners when I'm around terrorist, people who have murdered those who I care for and when shit is hitting the fan, so excuse me if my short temper is even shorter" she said bluntly.

Lelouch smiled under the mask, oh Cornelia, he though, you haven't changed.

"I understand your hatred for me, but I ask you that we put aside our differences tonight, for the sake of the people inside that building" he said as he pointed towards the Hotel.

Cornelia kept her face neutral "What if you're his ally, what stops you from helping him escape?"

"You have my word, not the word of a revolutionary but the word of a man who would do anything to see justice be served"

Cornelia raised an eyebrow.

"Justice you say? Was it justice killing my brother in cold blood? Answer me, change my mind that you're no cold hearted murderer and I maybe just maybe will let you through"

Zero remained silent thinking of the best course of action, Lelouch knew he could just say lies or try to pamper what he had done to Clovis but he murdered the man for information.

But Clovis was also not without fault.

"Yes it was, for he killed innocents just to cover his name and save face"

Cornelia shot at Zeros feet.

"The only reason why you're not dead is because the people at the Hotel will die if I shoot you in the head!" Cornelia said through gritted teeth.

Zero remained silent.

"Cornelia you and I are not so different, I want to protect those who are oppressed and you fight to protect the one you care about the most"

Cornelia stared for a second, before she frowned.

"Let them pass, let these two crazy people kill each other"

Her soldiers followed her command and opened a pathway for them.

When he passed next to Cornelia he whispered loud enough for her to hear.

"I will save Euphemia and if you do not believe me about your brother, look at his files on human experimentation"

Cornelia stared at him shocked, but before she could question him, the ban speeded up.

Cornelia remained still for some seconds, until one of her soldiers approached her "Your highness, are you all right?"

"Tell the Earl to prepare his toy, I think we might need it soon"

He saluted and left without saying a word.

Cornelia hated when people were one step ahead of her, she hated how he knew that Euphemia was there.

She didn't think that Zero was working with the Joker but she could never be too sure.

That's why she was sinking so low, using an eleven pilot to help.

They had to save Euphemia, no matter the cost.

 **A/N: Don't you love two parters and cliffhangers? …. Yeah me neither but I think it was a good place to end the chapter. Mostly cause I don't want to overwhelm you guys with too much information.**

 **Sorry for the long wait, but life got crazy and I found it hard to find time to write. But I think the next chapter should come very soon.**

 **See you guys on the next chapter!**


	9. Chapter 8 (Part 2)

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 8**

 **"The Hotel"**

 **Part 2**

"See, there were two guys locked in a lunatic asylum...and one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum anymore. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight...stretching away to freedom. Now, the first guy, he jumps right across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daredn't make the leap. Y'see...y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then, the first guy has an idea...He says 'Hey! I have my flashlight with me! I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me!' B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He says... he says 'What do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I am half way across!'" – The Joker from Batman: The Killing Joke by Alan Moore.

* * *

"HEHE"

Euphemia never liked clowns, ever since she was a child she had a very clear dislike for them.

When she was younger she saw a clown in a scary movie that scarred her for life, it took the combined efforts of Cornelia and Lelouch to calm her down.

They had took her to bed together and stayed with her the entire night.

But now there was no Lelouch to help her and Cornelia had her hands tied on the situation and could not intervene.

As she approached the room where the Clown Prince of crime more and more guards turned their masked faces to stare down at her.

Some with lust, some with indifference but she caught glimpse of something she didn't think some of them would be capable of: pity.

Some of the Joker's guards were looking at her with pity.

They looked away or put their clown mask back on, anything to avoid looking at her, they knew what was coming and it was eating away in what little conscious they had left.

"HAHAHAHAAHAAA!" the last laugh was stronger than the others it made her flinch, what could cause the mad man so much joy? Was it the dead of the hostages?

The innocents that he was hurting? The families he just destroyed?

"Are you just going to stand here all day?" one of the guards called out to the one that had been looking over her.

"Dude shut up! I don't want to interrupt the boss" he said angry at his comrade for making so much noise

"He will get madder if you don't bring him the princess now" said someone form the back.

"All right all right, I'll take her to him" he said.

When the two guards were done arguing, the one that had accompanied her to this point took a deep breath and gently knocked on the door.

"WHAT?!" someone yelled from the inside.

"B-boss I… I brought the princess" he said nervously.

Euphemia noticed how he paled, how he had started to sweat.

He was terrified of him she realized, how much of a monster was he that even his own men feared him?

"Ohohoho, really nowww? Come in, just wait a while I prepare some stuff" the door opened and she was greeted with a room filled to the brim with TVs and monitors.

"He has cameras all over the city…" she said out loud, the guard merely snorted.

"Of course he does, everything the boss does is planned to perfection" he said as he pulled a chair and ordered her to sit in it.

"So you have worked with him for a long time?" she enquired as she sat down, to her surprise the guard snorted.

"Hell no, this the only time I have worked with him"

"But you sound like you know him"

"Everyone knows who the Joker is, he has left a mark that no other villain can ever surpass, you know, he is kind of like the boogeyman, there are thousands of stories of him and you can't know for sure if they are true or false"

"If he is so terrifying why work for him"

The guard let out a sigh "Because I need the money and this is the biggest job I could find, the Joker might be a bastard but because he doesn't give a rats ass about the money, he pays double than what other mob bosses pay"

Euphemia glared at him "So you would endanger the lives of so many just for cash" she said disgusted at him.

"Not my world, not my problem"

"Huh?" she said confused and guard snickered as he looked at her with a smug face.

"Oh yeah that's right you don't know, have you wondered why you never heard of the Joker until now? He has done this multiple times and yet you don't know anything about him, a guy like that just doesn't pop out of the blue let me tell you that, because he…" the thug didn't finish his sentence.

His brain was separated from his skull via bullet to the head, splattering all over the wall and some blood hit Euphemia in the face, making her gasp in shock as she stood up and looked at the man that had shot.

Standing there was a man, dressed in a purple suit, skin as pale as the moon and green hair.

The Joker looked enraged, he looked at the corpse he had just created with hate and spat on it.

"Stupid, ignorant good for nothing buffoon" he said darkly as he snapped his fingers and two hyenas appeared behind him, they looked at Euphemia and then at the cadaver, they immediately jumped at it, tearing it to pieces.

Euphemia gagged at the sight and looked the other way, only to be face to face with the creepiest smile she had ever laid her eyes on.

"Well hello there, is not every day that you meat royalty so I decided to change my suit to my Sunday best, what do you think" the Joker twirled around showing off the suit he had on, the man even had a flower on his chest.

"Why did you…" Euphemia started but she was silenced by the gloved hand of her captor.

"Oh shush, he was a bad man who needed to be put down, after all what kind of subordinate goes around telling secrets? I mean it's obvious, isn't it? No telling secrets means you get money and keep your boring live or have people become so stupid that I have to put that on the memo when they join, I tell you people like that is the reasons why shampoos have instructions" the Joker rambled as he grabbed the chair where Euphemia had been and placed it on the table where he had a peculiar computer that displayed the map of the hotel.

"Zero just entered the building by the way" he said like it was nothing.

Euphemia's eyes widened.

"Zero, but why?" she said surprised, wasn't he the man that killed her brother, the man who had freed Suzaku and declared himself as an enemy to Britannia?

Why would he be here, where only Britannians where being targeted?

The Joker on the other hand giggled and turned to look at her "Because he's a hero my dear I have seen many of them rise and fall and they're all the same 'I'll stop you scum' or 'I fight for justice and freedom' blah blah yidi yada the same crap over and over again, but you see I have a better idea for this hero, let's see what he is truly made off, if he is a hero then he would manage to resist all that I throw at him, he will remain strong in the face of chaos, but if he breaks… hehe then he was never a hero to begin with, was he?"

Euphemia stared at him confused "But why would you want to do that?"

The Joker laughed "Oh my dear you and your world have spent too much time without real chaos, your conflicts are so funny and insignificant, you only fight amongst yourselves in hordes there is no man who goes against everyone and that is just no fun"

"So you're doing this just for fun!" she said angrily, an emotion that was rare on her, but right now she was standing against something which contradicted and hated everything she believed in.

She believed in peace, in love and that all humans where deep down good, no matter what.

Compassion above all.

And to her surprise he smiled at her.

"Yes, I do it for fun and to prove a message"

Euphemia glared at him "And what message would that be?"

"That all it takes is one bad day…" he said ambiguously and ran towards his closet and pulled some makeup and face paint.

"The dress is too bright for my tastes but I guess I can just rip it off, my little princess are you ready to be the star of the show?"

Euphemia stared at him in fear as he brought out a large knife from his jacket, he grinned.

"This will be the performance of a live time, heheheHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAAA!"

* * *

Zero stared at the building before him, he had half expected someone to be guarding the entrance but there was no one on sight, the entire lobby was deserted.

He frowned under his mask and made a signal to Kallen to approach him.

"You will come with Batman and I to look for the Joker, the rest of you look for the hostages and wait for my command"

Kallen nodded and stood next to her leader.

Ohgi and the others made their way to the stairs, leaving the trio alone.

Batman was the first to start walking "I don't like this, stay close to me" he said.

Zero simply nodded and followed him, Kallen right behind him. The young red head looked around and saw that the hallways had been painted with green and purple graffiti.

Most of them just spelled "HAHA" or "JOKER WUS HERE" but one caught her attention.

"BATMAN SUX"

Kallen raised an eyebrow "Met this guy before?" she asked the dark knight, who simply nodded.

"Sadly" he said as he opened a door that lead to the dance hall.

Kallen's eyes widened as she saw that multitude of thugs were in the room all of the holding balloons or some other type of party instrument, some of them were even wearing hats.

"What the hell?" she said out loud.

Lelouch felt his heart accelerate when he saw that entire mess, he thought he knew what the mad man was thinking but he just realized he was wrong.

Unpredictability and chaos was something he had always hated, the factor that you couldn't plan for was one of the most troublesome things when you were making a strategy and as much as he hated it he could not plan for everything.

Why did he made them all dress up like there was a party?

"You have been very cordially"

"Cordially"

"Invited to a party and it will be a special time"

"Special time"

"Full of guns and explosion and it will be when the Batman finally falls down"

"Falls down"

"And so will his stupid masked friend"

"Masked friend"

Some thugs sang.

Batman remained stoic as always, Zero's emotions where hidden away by his mask and Kallen raised an eyebrow at them.

Suddenly a TV sprang to live.

"Shesh, even I thought that was bad, ok next time there will be more rehearsal time, speaking of time, sorry to leave you hanging for so long area eleven, but I had to look at a few things, but I'm back and we can finally get into the meat of things, as you can see we have special guest here today with me"

The lights all shut off except for one that illuminated only Batman

"First of we have the Dark Knight, always so formal, all dressed in black, have any words for the camera?"

Batman stepped away from the light and disappeared into the shadows.

"So shy isn't he, next up we have the man of the hour, the one that said he killed Prince Clover and rescued what's his face from trial only to have him return to court, give it up for Zero!" the light now was on top of Zero who remained immobile staring ahead like if all this was just an annoyance.

"And we have a third person but she is not important, so screw her and let's get on the first event of the night, you see this floor has a total of thirty guards armed with nothing but baseball bats and pipes, there is a man with a shotgun but I won't tell you who he is, mostly cause I hope you drop dead and die"

The lights were back on and the thugs all took out their weapons, eyeing them with smirks on their faces, thirty against three easy.

"Wait where's Batman?" one of the yelled as they looked around only to find that dark Knight had disappeared.

"Have fun kids and remember we are being transmitted live to all area Eleven so no swear words, hehe, who am I kidding keeping this PG-13 would be the most boring thing ever, make it rain blood!"

Right then smoke started to fill the entire ballroom and no one could see anything.

"Stick together don't let them catch you by surprise" one of the thugs yelled.

They all nodded and huddled together.

Kallen grinned and ran towards one who had been lagging behind and kicked him in the legs making him fall to the floor, not wasting any time she smashed his head against the ground, making him lose consciousness.

Batman dropped on top of one of them knocking him out instantly, and proceeded to fight against the thugs, breaking their wrist and their legs, with powerful kicks and grabs.

He grabbed a pipe that was headed to his head and took it from the thug, he then smashed it against the thug's stomach and when he kneeled over in pain he hit him in the head with the pipe.

He would be out for a long time.

Zero on the other hand was not fitted to fight… physically so he tracked down the man with the shotgun.

Normally this would have been one of the most insane decisions he had taken in his life had it not been fo the fact that he had brought with him a gun and he wasted no time in shooting him in the leg, making the thug scream in pain.

"You piece of crap!" he shouted and shot the way he thought Zero was.

Lelouch had managed to move away just in time to avoid being riddled with bullets… again and shot once more, hoping that this time he would hit something that would either kill his enemy or stop him from shooting another round his way.

But he had been mistaken, instead of shooting at him once more, the man limped his way towards where he had heard the shot which missed him by a couple of inches.

And when he was close enough he hit Zero in the mask with the stock of the shotgun, shattering some of the glass that the mask had.

Lelouch cursed and shot at him once more, but the thug grabbed his hand forcing him to drop the weapon.

"Got you now!" he screamed but when he was about to finish him he saw that the crack that he had made on Zero's visor had revealed one of his purple eyes, before he could react Lelouch activated his Geass.

"I command you to unhand me" Zero ordered and the thug did so, Lelouch didn't break eye contact with him and looked at his options.

He could kill him and be done with it, but he also could learn a lot from him.

He decided he would take the later.

"What has the Joker planned?"

The man obediently answered "He has multiple traps and bombs on this building, some of the levels have a challenge you must complete in order to move to the next"

"Challenges? What type of challenges?"

"No one on this level know, we only had orders to kill you" the thug said.

Zero nodded and grabbed the shotgun.

"Interesting" he said and hit the thug with the butt of the shotgun on the face, knocking him out.

Zero looked around and saw that the smoke was clearing.

Batman stood in the middle of the room surrounded by unconscious bodies Kallen by his side huffing.

"Aren't you tired?"

"No"

Batman moved towards the stair that led to the next level.

"Hurry the more time we spend here the more time he can hurt people"

Zero nodded and moved towards Kallen who stared at him, a surprised look on her face.

"Zero you got hurt!"

Lelouch's eyes widened and he simply nodded hoping that she wasn't able to see his very recognizable purple eyes.

As they got to the next floor they were greeted by more thugs, Batman immediately ran towards them attacking the first one with a kick that made him crash into his buddies, followed by Kallen who kicked a man in the family jewels.

Zero cringed a bit at seeing that, but because he wanted to cover his exposed eye he decided he would hang back for a bit, after all he knew very well that Batman and Kallen had this.

Before he finished covering the crack on his mask he heard a small ping on his helmet, someone was contacting him.

"Zero its Ohgi we have a situation"

"What's the issue?"

"The hostages are gone and they got us pinned down here, we can take them out but we will need more time I have no idea where the hell they took the hostages"

"…"

"Zero?"

"Thank you Ohgi this information is very useful, try to avoid casualties, this people are very inexperienced so if you are careful enough you should be able to take them out without having casualties"

"Roger"

And with that he cut off the transmission, Lelouch looked back at the fighting and saw that they were almost done, the last thug didn't stand a chance when both fighters started to beat him up.

He dropped like a sack of potatoes and Kallen cracked her knuckles

"You know this is sort of fun, they don't have guns so we just have to be careful" she said as she smiled at the work they had done.

Zero approached them "I have news the hostages are nowhere to be found and Ohgi and his group are pinned down in the lower level, I don't like this"

Batman walked to the elevator, his fist clenched in anger as he deduced what the mad clown was doing.

"If he's doing what I think he's doing we must hurry up" he said making both of his companions nod and move next to him.

Like the last level they dint have to push any buttons the elevator moved automatically, probably controlled by the Joker, they moved three floors up before stopping.

As they walked inside the room, a TV screen switched on and the mad clown was back on air once more.

"Now this challenge is going to be a bit different boys and germs you see our three heroes have to play my favorite game! Well my second favorite game, my favorite game is killing people with a playing card HUHU! I'll leave to the imagination on how I manage to do that"

The floor had two giant gas containers and some hostages where inside them, when they spotted them they started banging on the glass and scream at them for help.

"I call this one gas'em! You have two minutes to save the hostages before some of my trademark Joker gas fills the container and kills them all and don't even think about cheating because I will know" the Joker said as he activated the machine.

"Hurry up the clock is ticking!"

Batman rushed towards the control panel and started to try to deactivate the machine by deactivating the system.

"Dammit the only way to deactivate it is by choosing one of the chambers where it will redirect all the gas leaving the other unharmed" he said as he typed as fast as he could.

"You know I has half tempted to fill one chamber with elevens and the other with Britannians you know to show dualism and crap, but then I remembered that I'm not freaking Two Face and I decided to stick to the classics and fill one with children and women and the other with men, we know which one will leave a bad taste in your mouth so pick the other one" The Joker said dismissively as he toyed around with his knife on screen.

Batman frowned and looked at the chambers and then back at the controls.

"Zero take over, I will try to deactivate them from above" he took out his grappling hook and moved towards the top of the containers.

Lelouch looked at the screen and frowned, Batman was right, there were only two options and time was running out, he let out a sigh and picked the chamber where the men were being held.

"Zero what are you doing?!" Batman yelled into the coms.

"Making sure we at least save the children and women, I think I know how to save the men" Zero said and took out the gun he had and shot at the canister that contained the Joker venom.

"Cover your mouth and nose Kallen" he called out as he fired another round at the canister that started to leak the gas into the room.

Kallen did as she was told and put her hands over her face, making sure the gas didn't get into her mouth, Batman shattered the windows and the gas started to disperse.

"Could have told me you had a gun" he said as he landed next to Zero.

"Sorry I forgot" Lelouch said suppressing a smirk as the doors of the containers opened.

"Tch" The Joker made a clicking noise with his tongue and folded his arms, he looked serious and displeased.

"Using weapons huh Zero? That's a real violation of the rules" his voice dropped into a menacing growl.

"And breaking MY rules comes with A LOT of punishment!" he yelled at the top of his lungs.

Kallen flinched and Batman narrowed his eyes.

"You will Zero that I'm playing no game!"

"Don't you dare!" the Dark Knight threatened.

"heheHEHHEHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA HARLEYYYYYYYYYYYY"

"Yes pudding?" came the sing song voice of Harley Quinn who was now on screen.

"Is your camera ready?" he asked with a large smile.

"Sure is sweetie I have the best angle!"

"Gooooooooood, Zero you can't play games with ME! I'm not one of your Rebels or an imperial buffoon, I do not give a crap about how many die as long as someone dies and I care less if they're Britannian or Elevens, so take a good look because in the end you couldn't save anybody!" he took a detonator and the view changed to an apartment building.

"Boom"

Time seemed to move in slow motion as the building blew to pieces, the screams of the people inside audible.

Lelouch gritted his teeth, that building was in the middle of the city that bastard!

"You'll pay for that Joker!" Zero said as he pointed at him.

"Mmmh and why is that, aren't you against Britannia why do you care about some Britannians huh? Hypocrite"

"I fight for those who cannot fight back I fight for Justice and freedom and I swear that I will bring you down!" Zero yelled.

"Hehehe HAHAHAHA! OI Batman doesn't that sound familiar it almost reminds me of what you said to me all those years ago! Well if you're feeling brave Zero come all the way to the top I have the last game all set up and ready, this one is a KILLER HAHAHAHA"

The signal cut off and the trio moved to the elevator in tense silence, Kallen was still trying to process the fact that a lot of people had died simply because the mad man had decided that they had broken his "rules".

Batman remained as stoic as he could, but deep inside his mind he was cursing the clown and decided he was going to make sure he couldn't walk for weeks.

Zero remained silent, his breath controlled, but inside a rage waged on.

'I let them die' one side argued

'He killed them, I didn't'

'Children lived there'

'I made a mistake trying to save lives, the only thing that matters is that my message gets across'

'Then why do I feel like a failure'

'No I cannot feel like this not yet'

'Euphie… he's got Euphie'

'Saving her is the priority'

He would not let regret eat at him right now, he could mourn later but right now he had to win this. The Joker unknowingly was doing him a favor broadcasting all over Area Eleven and that was making sure that the masses, both Japanese and Britannians, heard his message.

He couldn't screw up now.

Not with so much at stake, he needed to outsmart him and show the world who The Black Knights where!

He would honor the dead by defeating the clown.

Yes that sounded about right, he would not rage blind him.

The elevator stopped on the last level, the rooftop.

As the doors opened, they were met by what looked like to be a circus, there were more goons and some of them even clapped once the elevator opened.

"Welcome freak"

"I can't wait to skin you all!"

"I'm going to sell that utility belt of yours and make a fortune Batman!"

"I want to see who's your friend is Zero, those legs are not of a dudes that's for sure!"

"I will make you bleed"

Some of the thugs yelled as they moved towards the center and there in the middle of it all sat the Joker.

He was sitting in a throne that was upon a pile of broken toys and burning dolls, a sick grin plastered on his face, the flames danced around with the wind of the night, the throne was so different from the one his father sat in that it was almost comical but its purpose was the same.

His father looked down at the people like they were insects, the clown looked down amused to see what these little things would do, because even if they hurt him he didn't care.

The throne meant that he thought of himself as better than them.

Heh.

Zero knew all about people like that.

"Hello" The Joker said making all the thugs shut up and look at their leader, who had risen from his seat, he cracked his knuckles and then he popped his neck.

"Oh that hit the spot" his voice lacked the emotion or rage he had some moments ago, he looked calm and pensive, which terrified Batman.

He had once seen that look in his eyes and that one time he had seen it was the time he had lost Jason.

The Joker had carried himself in the same manner when he announced that he had captured Robin, he had said it with the emotion of someone who tells the time or asks for the weather, because that's how he messed with your head.

He tried to fool you into a sense of normalcy before he pulled the rug under you.

"Zero you know I was kind of hoping that you would come here yelling and screaming for justice, I mean after all you looked mad last time we talked"

"My judgment will not be affected by emotion" Zero said "But know this clown, I will make sure you pay for all the people that died on this day!"

"Mmm Hmm I heard that one before, but because you managed to make me mad in the last game I will have to put a handy cap on you this time around" The Joker said making Lelouch frown.

"You will have no help from the Dork crusader and your… other companion, this last trial you complete alone capiche?"

Zero nodded at the mad clown, he looked back at Kallen who was looking at him with worry.

"Do not fear Q-1, have faith" he said

Kallen looked a little bit shaken but managed to nod "I- I trust you Zero"

Batman simply nodded at him and looked back at the thugs behind him "Lets clean this up while Zero distracts the clown"

"All right" Kallen responded as she prepared herself, she spared Zero one last glance and said to herself.

'Zero is playing his part, to help him I will play mine'

While the caped crusader and Q-1 took care of the thugs Zero started to walk towards the Clown Prince of crime, who had moved towards the edge of the building that over looked the lake.

Lelouch noticed how some of the thugs where pointing at him with their weapons.

"Drop the peashooter your carrying Zero, don't think I didn't notice that you have that under your cape" The Clown said as he turned around to confront the masked revolutionary.

"And don't even dare try to deny I have cameras everywhere, remember?"

Zero grabbed his gun and threw to the ground close to the Joker.

The clown smiled and picked it up.

"I mean if you were going for class you certainly had that part right, this little minx is very good at killing people slowly it makes them bleed out for a loooooonggg time, I admire a guy that takes his time but that's for kids, real men blow them up in an instant"

Lelouch gritted his teeth at the remark, but said nothing.

He will not let him break his mind, he would not loose himself to madness.

"Just tell me what you want clown"

"To see the world set ablaze and everyone murdering and killing each other in cold blood, but as of right now you broken and angry will do" The Joker snapped his fingers and two hyenas made their way towards their master.

"Tell me Zero how much do you know about hyenas?"

Zero didn't respond him so the Joker continued.

"You see the thing about this little beasties is that they're far more vicious and abrasive than your average lion and Harley's babies here have been kept from eating for quite a while, sure they had a bit of a snack earlier today but that's not the point, the point is that they are hungry and that suck for you" the Joker said as he pointed at him.

"Right next to me are two cages with hostages, Bud and Lou will take one cage each and it's up to you to save them!"

Lelouch stared at him in disbelief, was he supposed to save some people form a hyena, he could just grab a stick and beat them until the beasts realized it was far better to just leave the people alone.

"And I know what you are thinking 'oh handsome Joker why would two hyenas need big cages and can I just beat them with my fist?' well you see that would be the case if I didn't have this" the Joker said as he took out a funny looking gun.

Zero made no comment, but he spotted Bud and Lou making their way towards the cages.

Once Bud was in the place he desired the Joker without hesitation shot the hyena, who simply whimpered and fell to the ground.

He did the same thing to Lou, who actually barked in pain before falling to the ground.

'Add animal abuser to his list of issues' Lelouch thought.

But just about he was about to voice out his confusion, Bud started to twitch.

Lelouch took a step back.

"What the hell?" he said.

But he had just seen him die!

Bud started to twitch more violently, his skin ripped and blood started to pour out of his wounds, but that didn't stop him from growing in size.

He snapped his now colossal jaws shut and let out a terrifying howl.

Lou was undergoing the same process but his ribs were on display, making quite the gruesome picture.

"So Zero as you can see it won't be as easy as you think, here on cage number one we have the poor hostages from the hotel, oh buhu look at them don't they look miserable" The Joker said as the cage where the people were being kept was illuminated.

They were being held far away from the ground by a chain that looked like it would snap any second.

Lelouch felt his heart move all the way up to his throat when he saw Milly and Shirley tied up looking at the beats bellow them with fear.

"You bastard…"

"Not very creative Zero, think of a new one that hasn't been said a million times before and in cage number two… well see for yourself"

Lelouch had to use all his mental strength to not fall to his knees, there tied up to a post by the hands was his little half-sister, dressed only in her underwear with the letter "HAHAHA" carved into her pale flesh. He face was obscured by the clown makeup but he could make out two very prominent tear marks.

She was in pain.

She was all alone she must be terrified he had to…

"Already have a favorite Zero? Not that I can blame you, after the makeover that I… ehem conducted she is to DIE for!"

Lelouch didn't think he tried to swing a punch at the clown only to be stopped by the guards.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you my friend" The Joker said with a large smile, as he walked towards Zero who couldn't even touch him thanks to his guards.

"You see we don't want anyone to find out nasty secrets do we?" he got close to his ear so that only Zero could hear him.

"Little prince"

Lelouch could only stare at him in shock.

"How did you…"

"Oh you know magic and knowledge of the future and stuff but that doesn't matter right now what matters is who are you going to save Zero, the populace?"

The Joker gestured towards the cage which chain was already being destroyed by Bud.

"Or the royalty?"

Lou was already starting to tear apart the pole in which Euphemia was barely hanging on.

"Personally I would choose royalty, you could marry her and become King!" the Joker said loudly for the cameras to hear but he mumbled under his breath something that Zero managed to catch.

"She kept crying for you, like if you were going to jump out and save her"

Lelouch brain almost shut down before he made a decision.

He would make a miracle here today, no matter what.

"I... I have made a decision"

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **(Insert evil laugh here) you fooooooooooooooooool did you really think this would be a two parter… I also thought that too but the plot just kept getting more and more complicated and I had to stop at some point.**

 **And yes, I know it was sick of me to that to Euphemia I know, send all the hate mail you want but if you thin I was cruel then you haven't seen what the Joker has done in the comics.**

 **Skinning off their flesh people has become such a hobby of his that he had someone peel off his own face (I'm not kidding).**

 **So yeah, two giant hyenas, only one will step down and the other one will kill everything that moves.**

 **Batman and Kallen have their hands tied (the Joker has more bombs after all) and the fate of both Euphemia and the hostages are only on Zero's shoulders.**

 **But what of Suzaku and Superman and Wonder Woman?**

 **Patience my dear readers, all will be answered next chapter.**

 **By the way, something was brought up to my attention recently that the DC Trinity was for lack of better words OP.**

 **That will also be a main point of next chapter.**

 **As always feel free to leave your thoughts (and criticism) on the reviews, I know I'm not the best writer so your reviews help me out a lot!**

 **Au-revoir!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 8**

 **Part 3**

* * *

 **Lelouch POV:**

"I… I have made a decision" I could barely hear my own voice, but I knew I had managed to say it strong enough for the people present to hear it.

The Joker snapped his fingers and both beasts stopped, they looked displeased at the interruption, but didn't dare to question their master.

"The choice that I have made is one that is not that hard to figure out, I choose logic over all, tactical decision is key to my character I am no fighter but my mind is the only weapon I need"

Logical, a word that had been beaten into my head since I was a child, a word that Schneizel used so much, a kind word, one that absolves you of all fault.

Logic dictates it.

Is only logical.

You're going against logic

I have used that word to justify my actions many times.

'Suzaku pushed me first so it's only logical that I push him back!'

'Making that move was the most logical and obvious thing to do Rivalz, don't you see how happy Milly is?'

'Euphie was scared so I decided to stay with her the entire night… no I am not blushing, it was logical!'

Euphie.

Oh my Euphie, the first girl that I have ever loved, seeing you up there is tearing my heart apart, you don't deserve this.

Of all the people on the disgusting empire that Father calls home, you are the one who should be spared of all this, I will not let that…THING HURT YOU!

But…

The logical thing to do for my cause, for my plans is to let you die, is to let one of the people that I hold so close to my heart die an unjust death.

At the hands of a madman from another world.

It's the perfect plan honestly, you die and the entire populace of the Empire see that I choose the people, not the royalty.

That I protect and care for those who do not have anything to protect themselves.

The masses would rally at my sides and because it was not an eleven who did this there would be no way to pin it on them, I could work undisturbed and finally topple Britannia.

But…

I could never look at Nunnally in the face again without feeling guilty and worried, to know that I have let yet another one from my family die.

So… I chose the best for all.

Euphie… this is for the best.

I hope you understand.

* * *

 **Normal POV:**

The sound of the wind was the only thing that could be heard, the Joker had dropped his calm façade and was looking at Zero with crazed eyes and his signature smile.

Kallen stared at her leader not knowing what to think of this entire situation.

Batman was frowning.

And Cornelia was close to tears at seeing her beloved sister in this state and prayed that Zero didn't chose the populace over her little sister.

"Ohhhhhhhh please let us know Zero, I'm sure the Princess is DYING to know, hahahahahah" The Joker said as he signaled the camera man to close on Zero's face.

"I chose the people!" Zero yelled, making everyone in the Empire let out a sigh of relief.

Cornelia yelled at her officers and ordered the Lancelot to change its mission, the Hotel would be left standing the priority was Euphemia.

Suzaku masterfully maneuvered the Lancelot outside of the tunnel he was in, his mind focused on saving the girl who he had grown close to in a short amount of time.

"But I have one condition" Zero said as the Joker was about to snap his fingers once more.

"You're in no position to ask anything of the Mad Clown Zero" The Joker said, shaking his head as if he was talking to a dumb child.

"In that you're mistaken I am in a position to argue, you think you're so above all the rest when in reality you're nothing more than a mad dog chasing after cars with no purpose that why your plans and your allies plans are nothing more than a big show trying to be something that they're not, they try to preach but they fail at having a meaning and that's why I still have a right to argue against you, I will make you hear me out!" Zero boldly proclaimed.

The Joker simply raised an eyebrow.

"Do you think I care what happens here when I'm done it's a cycle you see, I bring forth the chaos and all the world sees that sometimes is better to just give in into the madness and challenge the status, destroy everything for the sake of it! That's what I bring but do not worry Zero after I leave all my other friendssssss will come to this place and start hitting you not kindly like me oh no no no no, you see I wanted to test your metal, see what you were made of and I have to say, I see what makes you an inspiring figure to all those poor and oppressed people of the Empire, but you're still nothing more than a failure, because you couldn't save everybody, so to summarize speak all you want I do not care, you can rebuild all you want save all the people you can but it won't change anything here"

"But you care what happens to me after you leave don't you, you said you wanted to see me broken and defeated, you have managed none I will continue forward with my plans!"

"Not if I fill your entire body with bullets"

"But that's not how you do things, that is being part of the status, if you do that you will be nothing more than a common though"

The Joker grinned "And how would you think that I want you to go down Zero?"

"In a show, in a big spectacle that will show how useless my motives are"

"In that you're correct but I HATE to philosophize when I could be turning a princess into a nice RED hot mess! SOOooooooo speak faster I'm losing my patience!"

"I want to change places with Princess Euphemia"

The Joker dropped the smile and brought a hand to his chin, he started to pace around a small smile on his lips.

"You know I'm tempted to do that, but that would mean letting you get away with what you want and you will manage to save everyone which is a NO no in my book"

"I will not save my message"

"Are you so arrogant to believe that your dream will die with you?" The Joker said as he rolled his eyes.

"Is not arrogance, is logic"

"Logic does not exist in my dictionary, but because you managed to bore me to dead with words I will grant you this little thing I don't care who dies and who lives as long as someone DIES!"

And with that the Joker walked into the cage where Euphemia was held and started to undo the ropes.

"You fool if you undo the rope now she will fall!"

The Joker laughed "But she would still be alive, in pure AGONY but aliveee" and with that he cut the last rope holding Euphemia.

Zero managed to position himself under her and grab her, but do to his lack of… strength they both fell onto the ground, but under the mask Lelouch smiled.

He had saved her, it didn't matter that every part of his body was creaming in agony right now, Euphie was safe.

He managed to pick her up and walk towards the exit.

"Zero…." She said in a small voice.

"It's fine, it will be over soon, think of the Aries Villa do you remember the gardens?" Lelouch said.

Euphemia at him in shock.

"That's impossible!"

Zero said nothing as he laid her softly on the ground, leaving his cape wrapped around her to protect her modesty.

"I'm ready" Zero said and as soon as he said that the doors behind him where closed.

The Joker snapped his fingers and Bud charged at him

"We have to help him!" Kallen yelled as she turned to look at Batman who had been waiting patiently, his stoic expression not moving an inch.

"We're surrounded by armored thugs, I could drop a smoke bomb but they could take the newly freed hostages and use them as meat shields" he replied.

"But we can't just let Zero die!"

"He won't die"

"THE GIANT MONSTER SAYS OTHERWISE!"

"He was really smart he bought time and that was all we needed"

"Huh?"

Batman prepared himself and looked to the skies.

"About time you showed up"

Superman crashed into the ground with enough force to make the building tremble.

"Sorry bombs distracted us" Superman said with a smile on his face, he turned to look at the scene and frowned.

"Secure the princess Batman I will deal with this people"

Batman nodded and ran towards the unprotected princess, Superman cracked his knuckles and looked at the armed goons.

"So who wants to shoot first?"

His question was met by a sea of bullets being shot his way.

Superman sighed and shook his head.

Goons never learn.

And with that the man of steel took a deep breath and then exhaled freezing them all in place.

"That's cheating" Wonder Woman said as she arrived.

"Sorry to leave you behind but I had a feeling that Bruce needed me here"

"No kidding keep taking care of the goons, I will save the little prince"

And with that Diana took out her lasso and jumped towards the fence Lelouch was in.

The exiled prince had managed to avoid Bud for a long time, but sadly he was running out strength, ha had received a couple of deep cuts in his skin and his legs felt like they would give up at any moment.

Diana masterfully grabbed Bud with her lasso and brought the beast down, Titan already failing.

"The Joker didn't plan this one so well his beast are already failing" Wonder Woman said not impressed with the Hyena who had reverted to its original state.

Zero looked back and didn't see the Joker anywhere.

Had he escaped?

"Did you see where the maniac went to?" he asked to the Amazonian.

Diana shook her head and frowned.

"This isn't like him, things are going way too smoothly"

Zero nodded and looked around "For someone who spoke so much about a master plan he sure is not living up to it"

"Zero the military is advancing we should leave!" Kallen said as she walked next to her leader.

"Yes we should… but something here doesn't add up, no matter tell Ohgi and the other to retreat and help the survivors escape"

Kallen nodded and started directing the people to the stairs.

"Zero!"

Lelouch turned around to see the Joker standing on the edge of the building, did he plan to kill himself?

"You have lost clown, give up and I might not kill you for what you've done today"

"Ohhh are you angry?"

Yes, Lelouch thought.

He wanted to tear him limb from limb for the people he killed with his bomb he wanted to rip his eyes out for what he did to Euphemia.

"You see, this is going just as I planned, I'm just waiting for the final piece to arrive"

"What do you mean, your guards are defeated, the hostages are escaping as we speak you have LOST!"

The Joker smiled once more and looked at the horizon.

"For someone so smart you are really stupid, didn't you think weird that I will gamble all in your morals, knowing that the two power houses where backing you up?"

Zero didn't respond.

The Joker laughed.

"No, as soon as you said that you would choose the populace over the princess I stopped the transmission and right now the military is going to storm this building with all they got leaving what I want FREE FOR THE TAKING!"

Zero stared at the ground bellow and cursed, true to the Joker's word the military was closing in and he could already make out the Lancelot approaching.

"Wait, how do I know its name?"

"HHEHEHEHEEH already having visions I see, your fate is to die Zero you will die, because that's how it is, by the hands of THAT PILOT"

Lancelot arrived and fired at the building!

"DO NOT MOVE ZERO!"

Suzaku.

Lelouch remembered the sword.

He gripped his chest.

What the hell?

But that hasn't happened yet.

Lelouch started to feel light headed and did the only thing that came to his mind.

He ran.

Suzaku frowned and pursued the masked vigilante, forgetting about the clown.

The Joker rolled his eyes and looked at the helicopter that had arrived for him.

"You ready pudding?"

"My Harley, I have been ready since the day I was born, to the Viceroys Palace!"

And with that they managed to get away undetected, the military to busy storming the building to pay mind to a helicopter.

But someone had heard them.

The world's greatest detective frowned as he looked down at his gauntlet.

When Harley had landed he had managed to put a tracking device on their helicopter.

He turned to look around and saw that Zero was currently cornered by a giant white Robot.

Why didn't the robot just shoot the joker out of the skies?

It would have made his life a lot easier.

Suzaku frowned as he pointed at the masked vigilante.

Suzaku blamed him for all this.

If it wasn't for him none of this would have happened.

The clown said that he was here for Zero, to prove him.

Because Zero appeared the monster had hurt Euphemia and worst of all because of his bad decision a building had been destroyed, killing so many people.

All because of what?!

Ideals?

No Zero was wrong, the Joker was wrong the world had to be changed from within, no matter how big of a giant you where the world could not be changed by constantly hurting people, by being with the system they could make things wright change the people with words and ideals not with rash actions!

"Give up Zero, you will come quietly with me then you will be judged"

"Not all of us get a free pass after being committed of a crime" Zero said calmly.

Suzaku frowned "I didn't get a free pass the justice system found me innocent and I was set free"

"You're nothing more than a fool, if it wasn't because of me you would have been charged with the dead of Prince Clovis, because I admitted that I killed him, because I dared challenge the system, that's the only reason why you are even alive!"

Suzaku said nothing.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow "Left you without words"

"Not really, I threw an EMP at him it fried all the circuits, he won't move for a while" Batman said scaring the living daylights out of Lelouch.

"Jesus, you scared me"

Bruce didn't say anything as he looked at the machine.

"You know him?" he said after a while

"He's a… friend you could say"

"No matter we have to leave, the Joker is going to the Viceroy's Palace and we have to stop him"

Zero nodded and walked with the Caped Crusader.

"Superman you're with me Diana you take the boy"

"Sure thing"

Lelouch looked back at Lancelot and shook his head.

More stuff to pile onto his list of worries.

But that didn't matter right now he just wanted to end what seemed to be an endless night.

He reached for his mask and dialed Ohgi "Are you safe?"

"Yeah we just managed to get away they were too busy looking for the princess"

"Good hide and lay low, this is going to be… difficult to deal with once the dust settles"

"No kidding"

"Send Kallen my regards Zero out"

Lelouch felt someone grab him from behind.

"Look at you, a leader in the making" Diana said with a smile and Lelouch thanked the heavens that he was wearing a mask or she would have been able to see the blush on his face.

"We need to hurry" he said, trying to make his voice sound serious.

Wonder Woman chuckled and nodded "Sure thing boss, hold on tight if you don't want to fall"

As they departed, Suzaku trapped inside the Lancelot's cockpit could only frown at the controls, he knew he was trapped they had managed to immobilize the Lancelot somehow.

Zero that sneaky bastard, never fighting fair it seemed.

Never?

But he had only met him twice?

Suzaku reclined back into his chair and pondered.

This was new, was he finally going down the rabbit hole?

He shook his head.

No that didn't matter right now, as soon as the machine restarted he would hunt down Zero and the clown they would pay for what they did to Euphemia.

He would prove them both wrong, in the end they would see that they were at fault, that their violent actions to change where wrong.

You could change the world without getting your hand dirty and Zero would have to swallow his words in front of the court!

* * *

Euphemia had been scared many times in the past, but not as much as she had been a couple of moments ago.

Had it not been for Zero she would have…

Tears started to swell up in her eyes, what a terrible night.

Her wound was bothering her to no end, when Zero's cape brushed against her, she would flinch in pain.

But still she held onto into, she felt safe. It protected her near naked body from the wind… and the shame.

She hated the wound, not because it had a foul word or something like that, it angered her because she felt like a joke.

She would never forget his smile as he carved into her skin the words HAHA.

He had smiled and said "Ohh come now don't cry if it helps you cheer up we are not so different, well now we are but once upon a time I was just like you, full of optimism and happiness but then it happened, I had a BAD day because honestly that's all that separates you and me a BAD day… never forget that my dear"

She was shaken out of her thoughts by a soft hand on her shoulder.

A blonde girl smiled at her.

"Are you all right your majesty? No wait, what a stupid question, can I do anything to help you?"

She had very beautiful blue eyes that sparkled with mischief.

"I… I know you" Euphemia said.

The blonde chuckled "I'm surprised you remember me, I usually spent most of my time with Lelouch you would always get jealous and leave the Villa as soon as I arrived"

Euphemia smiled "Milly, it's been so long…"

Milly grinned and gave her a half hug "Don't worry, we will get you to safety I'm sure your sister is just around…"

"HANDS IN THE AIR UNHAND THE PRINCESS!" the imperial guards yelled.

"See easy" Milly said as she raised her hands in the air, her smile never faltering.

"No its fine she's with me she… is a friend"

"Sorry your highness but we are under orders from Viceroy Cornelia"

"I have to speak to her about… someone" Euphemia finished lamely.

"And who would that be?" a thunderous voice said making all flinch.

Cornelia had arrived.

She marched to her sister and started to look at her.

"Are you hurt, did he do anything to you I swear if that bastard did anything I will rip him apart piece by piece and then…"

Cornelia's ramble was cut short by her sister who had wrapped her arms around her waist.

"I'm so glad you're here"

Cornelia's heart nearly broke in half as her little sister's voice quivered.

She was hurt and right now she did not need the viceroy she needed her sister.

"Shh, is ok, I'm here now" the older sister said as she wrapped her arms around her.

Milly smiled and slipped away unnoticed her job done, she could not way to see Lelouch and tell him what had happened tonight.

 **A/N: Not going to lie this chapter was bi$%# to write. Not just because I had writers block but also because something hit me… with Superman and Batman in the story there is no stakes, no challenges to overcome. Sups is just way to powerful (lifted infinity and carried eternity on his back) and Batman can solve any mystery without a problem. Wonder Woman is different (I loved her movie by the way) she is a symbol but she can still be hurt and is not the WORLDS GREATEST DETECTIVE, so yeah. Just wanted to share that with you guys, because next chapter is going to deal with the defeat of the Joker and deal with a major change to the story.**

 **By the way, should I move this story to M rating? Some people said that I went too far with the Joker last chapter.**

 **Witch by the way, I didn't, he is written in the comics to be disturbing and challenge our perception of humanity (see cutting off his own face once and making Commissioner Gordon watch pictures of his daughter naked and bleeding to drive him mad) but if you think that I went too far I can always change it or move the rating.**

 **But if you're fine with the way it is already just let me know!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Shadow of Zero**

 **Chapter 9**

* * *

Beauty is a word very complicated word to pinpoint.

To some the sunset was beautiful.

To others beauty was within an object or found in the soul of a person, many tried to capitalize beauty in the body.

In jewelry, in gems, in rocks, in cars, in anything they could think of.

But one thing was for certain not all shared the same view of beauty.

To those special individuals that found beauty in something so unconventional, so rare, that society thought of them as mad men, life would always be a battle.

An uphill battle against everyone that thinks that their definition is better.

That because someone dared to walk out of the conventional, they are wrong.

Those who fight for their beliefs will eventually end up changing the way some people think.

And when that battle is won, when they get people to a point not where they agree with them, but to the point that they understand them and their view that is when they can twist the world to their image.

Once the others understand them, the uphill battle becomes a walk in the park.

Suddenly all share their views.

They are hailed as heroes by those who had shun them before.

And they would write paragraphs of their genius.

A brilliant genius that saw beauty in something that none could.

Beauty was to be shared.

Everyone wants to share what they think beautiful.

And as the Joker looked down at Area Eleven in flames.

The people running around in fear, anger confusion and panic, stabbing each other for the most miniscule things, killing for survival.

He saw true beauty.

He had shared it with this world as he had done with this one.

And now it was spreading.

He could barely make out some young teenagers running around with bats in their hands, their faces painted white.

This world begged to be influenced.

Not by an empire.

Not by a rebellion.

But by a single entity, a man who dared to step forward.

That's why Zero had made such and impact.

That's why the emperor was so admired and respected by all, enemies and allies alike.

That's why there where people running around down there dressed up like him, acting like him.

Because they had seen beauty in his work.

He looked at the approaching Viceroy's palace and smiled.

The same smiled that made the Scarecrow flinch, the smile that made Killer Croc sick.

The smile of the man who laughed.

The man who laughed at society, sanity and justice.

"Mr. J where da ya want me to land?"

"Oh anywhere will be fine sugar cake, I do not care today"

Harley nodded dutifully and landed the plane right in front of the massive gates of the palace.

Joker smiled at her, making her heart go all the way up to her throat.

And then he punched her.

Harley fell unconscious to the helicopter's floor.

"Sorry pudding, but today I feel like going solo"

And he left her to her fate.

The Bat would find her, arrest her, send her to Arkham and that would be the end of that.

She would escape later anyways.

But he.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh he felt different today.

He hadn't felt like this in so long.

He just hoped it wasn't the pesky interdimensional food he ate.

Laughing at his own joke he marched inside the palace only to be met by guards pointing their weapons at him.

"DO NOT MOVE!"

The Joker raised his arms and smiled.

"Why do you look so scared my man, I'm just a clown with a killer gag!"

He dropped a grenade at his feet and the entire room was filled with his Joker gas.

"Breathe boys" he said with a smile as all around him the guards suffocated to death, their faces twisting into a smile.

Their lifeless eyes nearly bulging out of their skulls stared back at him, some in fear, some in pain but most where pleading.

He laughed.

"Zero, the party is almost over and you still haven't unpacked your last present!"

* * *

Lelouch arrived at the Viceroy's palace with a frown on his face.

Anarchy reigned in Area Eleven with guardsmen and military doing their best to keep everything in line.

They were spread thin, leaving the Viceroys palace undefended.

Lelouch shuddered as he watched the disfigured smiles of the dead guardsmen at the front door.

The clown had taken care of his opposition quickly it seemed.

There was no reason for more death, he was cornered, his allies captured.

Even his girlfriend was being tied up by Batman.

What did he gain from coming here?

"Something is wrong, I don't like it" The dark knight said out loud.

His companions nodded.

"He is planning something different and I don't like it, Superman, Wonder Woman stay out here, Zero with me"

Lelouch followed silently as they entered the Viceroy's palace.

"Forgive me for bringing you along Zero I know that today has been a strenuous day for you but I think it would be best if you stick with me for now, he wants you after all, so if we deny him that we don't know what crazy stun he can pull"

Lelouch looked down at his ruined attire and deep cuts.

He was not in any position to do most.

He was only moving out of sheer determination and raw anger

Anger for those the clown had killed and for his sister who he had hurt.

He knew what he was going to do.

Kill him.

End his madness.

But as Lelouch walked he started to hear something, the sound of laughter and a particularly familiar booming voice.

Both vigilantes stopped near the door, the voices becoming clear

"… make this quick I don't waste time in nuisances very often, but you have caught my interest for the time, do not disappoint me"

Lelouch gritted his teeth.

"So glad you could make time for me emps, you guards sure where quite surprised I got in here, I personally would blame the lousy security, but seeing as I spread them thin, with monsters and bombs I would not go so hard on them" the clown prince of crime replied.

"Make. It. Quick"

Lelouch knew that tone, last chance.

"Sure, sure, I will get to the point, this is mostly a thank you and a warning"

"A warning? Are you threatening me!?"

"Not me, but rather this" The Joker raised a small flag he had kept secret in his deep pocket.

Lelouch raised an eyebrow under the mask, the omega Symbol?

Batman on the other hand growled.

"And the thank you is for letting me screw with your children, the pink one squeals really pretty"

Lelouch didn't even need to see him to feel the sick smile form on his face.

"Hmph"

He didn't know what angered him more, the monster who hurt her or the other that didn't care, both of them they would both be dead by his…

"The other one is fun too, black hair and all moody"

Lelouch froze

"What are you…"

"Nothing emperor consider this my parting words"

A screen shattered and silence returned, except for the soft giggles that could be heard coming from the room.

Lelouch stood still in place, too shocked to move at all.

He faintly heard Bruce move and soon gunshots and mad laughter ensued.

Shakily Lelouch took a step forward, he felt as if he was walking through water, his thoughts immediately turned to Nunnally.

His father didn't know where they were, he just knew they still lived.

Discrete, he needed to be even more discrete.

He self-consciously brought a hand to his cracked masked.

"Are you all right?" a voice asked from behind him.

Diana.

"Yes, I will take my leave, you decide what to do with… HIM, contact me when you need me"

And with that he ran.

Heart pounding in his chest, a million thought running through his head.

Lelouch ran through the streets until he saw what he was searching for.

Two Britannian soldiers where driving through the city, trying to ease the increasing chaos that was Area Eleven, but Lelouch did not care for that now.

He stopped close to them and they immediately stopped.

"Hands where I can see them!"

Lelouch complied and waited for them to get close to him.

His Geass flared

"I command you both, to take me to Ashford Academy once you are done, you will drive at the highest speed possible and the crash into a building"

"Yes my lord"

* * *

Bruce pushed the Joker through the portal, the clown sent a last bloodied grin at him, before disappearing into a flash of light.

"No matter where he goes is always the same" he heard Clark comment.

"The Prince, where is he?"

"He told Diana, he was leaving, I am assuming he is going home, can't blame him honestly"

"Good, we will meet him there tomorrow, we are leaving"

Clark raised an eyebrow.

"We are?"

"Yes, something bigger is at play here, traveling through universes is not something easy to do and the Joker would be the last man to come up which such a thing"

"Someone helped him"

"Yes, why we must go back and search for them"

Clark shook his head.

"But we will be leaving here unprotected, do you think he alone would have been able to handle this?"

"Maybe, he is smart, but we will not leave him without support"

"How?"

"Your cousin did say she was bored of Kansas"

The man of steel let out a small smile.

"And Cassandra and Stephanie could use a change of scenery"

Bruce nodded.

"Yes"

"Diana will not be happy about this" Clark said with a sigh.

"She will understand, we are needed back there, we have become a deterrent against crime, whether we like or not"

Superman nodded.

"It is for the best, you are right, we need to leave soon then, tell the prince of our plan"

"We will wait until tomorrow, he needs his rest and I need to set up everything up for the people that will come"

Clark said nothing as he waited for Bruce to finish dismantling the dimension traveling device.

"By the way, something relevant I should know before we return?"

"Buy your wife flowers, she is mad at you"

Clark snorted.

"Did Flash tell you that?"

"No, it was Hawk-girl actually"

Silence followed, Clark looked at the ground for a moment before he turned to look at Bruce

"You wouldn't mind lending me some money"

"Reporter salary can cover that I am sure of it"

* * *

Lelouch punched the wall with all the strength he could muster, it wasn't much but it did make his knuckles bleed.

Curse the clown, curse those hyenas and above all curse that bastard he had once called his father.

Nunnally had not been aware of the chaos of outside.

She believed riots had been caused by The Japanese liberation front, Sayoko had believed that it was not wise for her to hear the things that the mad clown did.

He was glad she believed that.

We would not let any other of his siblings be influenced in any way by the clown.

If only he hadn't been so shocked he could have grabbed his gun and…

No, it was no time to dwell on that, but he just wished that the trinity would off him.

He knew they wouldn't do it, but he seriously hoped someone would.

He absolutely deserved it.

Lelouch cleaned his wounds and wobbled to the couch.

It had hurt him so much.

To put up the act like nothing had happened to him in the days before.

Zero was indestructible but he was not.

He had reopened some wounds today.

Both metaphorically and physically speaking, to hear his voice again, to see Euphemia so afraid and frail, Cornelia worried…

He allowed himself to drown his sorrows in memories.

Memories of happier times, of gardens and chess games, his mother and his beloved sisters.

What would he give to have those times back.

It had been so…

Beautiful.

* * *

 **A/N:**

 **In a few words this chapter was though.**

 **I didn't know how to progress the story or how to make things finish the way I wanted.**

 **This is version number 6 of this chapter.**

 **I couldn't find a way to do all the things I wanted and I noticed it was mostly because like I said last chapter, when the chapters are to overpowered or have no way of progressing it gets hard to write the story and make it feel meaningful.**

 **Next chapter should come more quickly, I'm pretty excited about the things to come.**

 **See you next chapter!**


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